"Mounting Evidence Of Fish Oil's Heart Health Benefits."

[Darryl Shaw]

Mounting Evidence Of Fish Oil's Heart Health Benefits.

ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2009) — There is mounting evidence that omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil supplements not only help prevent cardiovascular diseases in healthy individuals, but also reduce the incidence of cardiac events and mortality in patients with existing heart disease. A new study, published in the August 11, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, extensively reviews data from a broad range of studies in tens of thousands of patients and sets forth suggested daily targets for omega-3 consumption.

"This isn't just hype; we now have tremendous and compelling evidence from very large studies, some dating back 20 and 30 years, that demonstrate the protective benefits of omega-3 fish oil in multiple aspects of preventive cardiology," said Carl Lavie, M.D., F.A.C.C., medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, and lead author of the article. "The strongest evidence of a cardioprotective effect of omega-3s appears in patients with established cardiovascular disease and following a heart attack with up to a 30 percent reduction in CV-related death."

Dietary intake of fish oil can also decrease the risk of atherosclerosis, arrhythmias, heart attack, sudden cardiac death and even health failure. Dr. Lavie adds that although there is a smaller benefit in reducing heart failure death—9 percent mortality benefit in a major recent randomized controlled trial—this is still very impressive given patients' grave prognosis.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090803173250.htm

The full text pdf of this study can be found by clicking on the first untitled document listed here. (http://www.acc.org/search/veritysearch.cfm?CiMaxRecordsPerPage=10&CiMaxRecordsInResultSet=100&CiCatalog=c%3A%5Ccatalogs%5Cacc.org&CiFlags=DEEP&CiUserParam3=%2Fsearch.htm&CiUserParam2=%2Fsearch%2Fquery.idq&CiTemplate=%2Fsearch%2Fquery.htx&CiColumns=filename%2Crank%2Ccharacterization%2Cvpa th%2CDocTitle&CiSort=rank%5Bd%5D&CiRestriction=fish+oil&CiScope=%2F)

[Scott Kustes]

"If we translate this finding, it means that we only need to treat 56 patients for four years to prevent one death," he said. "And we are talking about a very safe and relatively inexpensive therapy."
Which is unfortunately why it won't be embraced fully.

Of course, reducing omega-6 intake from grains and vegetable oils is another key element of this, but that will require a sea change of current methodologies.

[Garrett Smith]

Thanks for posting this, Darryl. My following rant is not directed at you.

"This isn't just hype; we now have tremendous and compelling evidence from very large studies, some dating back 20 and 30 years, that demonstrate the protective benefits of omega-3 fish oil in multiple aspects of preventive cardiology," said Carl Lavie, M.D., F.A.C.C., medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, and lead author of the article.
Well...this either means that cardiologists and cardiology researchers are generally dumb enough about nutrition's effect on the heart that they're just figuring this out, or...they've been systematically taught to ignore stuff like this because it isn't to the benefit of the pharmaceutical companies (actually it would require less drugs and surgery, oh my!).

But wait!!! Pharmaceutical fish oil has now come out, you say? (http://www.lovaza.com/) And in lockstep, now cardiologists say there is 20-30 YEARS of COMPELLING evidence showing benefit? So the pharmaceutical companies can now stand to benefit from all the hard work the researchers put in, finally!?!?

Quote from the Lovaza website:
MEET LOVAZA: A Medication Made From Nature
These companies make me want to puke.

Rant off.

[Mike ODonnell]

Sadly modern medicine is driven by big pharma and their ability to patent and sell a product.....hence why I don't ever go see a doctor and eat lots of herring/sardines.

I'll let you know how it all turns out in 50 years.

[Scott Kustes]

You'll be like 125 in 50 years won't you?

[Mike ODonnell]

You'll be like 125 in 50 years won't you?

In fish years.

[John Devine]

I typically eat fish 2-4 times a week when it's available. (Like now because I have 40+ pounds of blue fin and albacore tuna in the freezer.) Should I decrease fish oil consumption when I'm eating a lot of fish?

EDIT: That was kind of rude of me. Thanks for the article Darryl.

[Garrett Smith]

Tuna steaks, wild or not, are a huge source of mercury.

http://www.ewg.org/node/26658

[Darryl Shaw]

I typically eat fish 2-4 times a week when it's available. (Like now because I have 40+ pounds of blue fin and albacore tuna in the freezer.) Should I decrease fish oil consumption when I'm eating a lot of fish?

EDIT: That was kind of rude of me. Thanks for the article Darryl.

There's not much point taking fish oil supplements on the days you're eating oily fish so you might as well save them for the days you aren't going to be eating any.

Also as Garrett said tuna is a huge source of mercury but you can work out how much it's safe to eat per week at these sites -

www.gotmercury.org

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694

[Scott Hanson]

I typically eat fish 2-4 times a week when it's available. (Like now because I have 40+ pounds of blue fin and albacore tuna in the freezer.) Should I decrease fish oil consumption when I'm eating a lot of fish?

EDIT: That was kind of rude of me. Thanks for the article Darryl.

Depends on how much Omega-6 you consume from seed oils, nuts,
EVOO, and grain-fed animals. Your ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is probably more important than the absolute amount:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17045449

[John Devine]

Thanks for the replies. I'll limit my intake to probably 2 times/week based on the calculator numbers.

[liz neufeldt]

Yes, I'd agree that it would be wise to limit supplementing with fish oil to those times when you aren't getting enough omegas. I don't know if you can get too much, but if you are currently eating enough fish and other sources of omega 3 and omega 6, then it's not necessary to take a supplement on a daily basis as well. But you should definitely find a good supplement for those times when you don't get enough. And speaking of the mercury issue, you also need to make sure your fish oil supplement is a good quality one with any mercury or contaminants removed. I found a nice one called NeuroDHA (http://www.seacoastvitamins.com/product_info.php?products_id=384) that has removed all contaminants, and also has a great EPA/DHA ratio to make sure it's exactly what the body needs and is easily absorbed.