Omega-3 Fish Oils Reduce Risk of Heart Rhythm Abnormalities, Inflammation
By Jack Challem - The Nutrition Reporter
Two new studies reinforce the health benefits of eating fish and having
a high intake of the omega-3 fats.
Lana L. Watkins, PhD, of the Duke Medical Center, Durham, North
Carolina, and her colleagues studied 260 patients who had survived a sudden
heart attack. Such patients have a very high risk of developing fatal
arrhythmias, or erratic heartbeats, in the weeks following a heart attack.
Watkins analyzed the risk of ventricular ectopy, the most common
type of ventricular arrhythmia. Ventricular ectopy can lead to tachycardia
and then ventricular fibrillation, resulting in uncontrolled heart
rhythm and death.
She reported that the subjects, who ranged from 27 to 86 years of
age, had a substantially lower risk of ventricular ectopy if they had been
consuming relatively large amounts of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the two principal fats found in coldwater fish.
They also had a lower risk of ventricular ectopy if they had a high intake of
alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat found in plants.
Based on data published in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people with the
highest intake of total omega-3 fats experienced
about half the number of ventricular ectopy
each day.
In the second study, Manohar L. Garg, PhD, of
the University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia,
and his colleagues studied the relationship
between omega-3 intake and inflammation.
Garg and his colleagues measured highsensitivity
C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in 46
healthy middle-age men and 78 women. CRP is
a marker of inflammation levels in the body.
He reported that people with the highest
intakes of total omega-3s and high intakes of
either EPA or DHA had the lowest CRP levels.
Conversely, people with the highest CRP levels --
more than 3 mg/L�had the lowest intakes
of omega-3 fats.
Garg also noted that body weight was strongly
associated with elevated CRP levels --
the more
a person weighed, the more likely his or her CRP
levels would be elevated.
"Findings from this study support previous
observations that omega-3 fatty acids may
improve cardiovascular health in healthy individuals,"
Garg wrote.
References: Smith PJ, Blumenthal JA,
Babyak MA. "Association between n-3 fatty
acid consumption and ventricular ectopy after
myocardial infarction." American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 2009;89:1315-1320. Micallef
MA, Munro IA, Garg ML. "An inverse relationship
between plasma n-3 fatty acids and
C-reactive protein in healthy individuals."
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 8,
2009: epub ahead of print.
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