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Study: Fish oil
lowers heart disease death rate
NEW
ORLEANS (CNN) -- The Mediterranean diet has long been touted for
its health benefits, and a newly completed study points to one
component of that diet -- fish oil -- as especially beneficial
to heart patients.
 The
study by Italian doctors of more than 11,000 heart attack
victims showed they reduced their risk of dying from heart
disease by 15 percent if they took fish oil supplements.
The
researchers presented their findings Tuesday at a meeting of the
American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.
"We are showing a benefit (from fish oil) on top of the protective effect of the Mediterranean diet, so the message should be even clearer," said Dr. Gianni Tognoni,
one of the doctors involved in the study.
But do you need to take a supplement, or can you just eat fish? Doctors say the amount of fish you would have to eat each day might be a little more than most people could tolerate, therefore supplements work best. The subjects
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in the study were divided
into four groups. One control group got dummy pills, another got one
gram of fish oil a day, a third group got vitamin E and a fourth
group got fish oil and vitamin E. The two fish oil groups saw their
risk of dying of heart disease over 3-1/2 years reduced by 15
percent. "Vitamin E came out not statistically significant," Tognoni
said.
All of the patients were following directions to eat a more healthful diet -- which means adding plenty of fruits and vegetables and cutting fat -- and exercising, Tognoni
said. They were also trying to eat fish instead of meat twice a
week.
The patients also
received medication for heart attack patients, including
anti-clotting drugs, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors.
Tognoni said it is not
fully understood why fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids,
benefits heart patients.
He said there is some
evidence the fatty acids work on the inside lining of blood vessels,
which become clogged with fatty plaques in heart disease.
Other good sources of omega-3 fatty acids are canola oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil. |
The
Team