Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Strong Support for the Heart

In September 2004, the Food and Drug Administration allowed certain foods containing fish oils to make the following “qualified” health claim:

“Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”

Hooray! Finally, the government has joined in agreement with what nutritionists have been saying for decades: omega-3s are an important dietary supplement.

For years, studies linking omega-3 fish oils to healthy hearts have piled up. Now that the FDA has gotten on the bandwagon, businesses are trying to figure out how to get omega-3s into most other foods you can name, including juice, yogurt, salad dressings, margarine, meat, milk and bread.

A few years back, the Heart Association began to emphasize the importance of consuming fatty fish, such as wild Alaska salmon, rainbow trout, sardines, mackerel, and herring, which are the richest sources of EPA and DHA, the primary long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which occur naturally only in fish. These fish are also low in environmental contaminants.

“Studies show that people who eat fish regularly have a significantly lower risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death, which kills about 250,000 Americans yearly,” says consultant Joyce A. Nettleton, DSc, RD. “We now understand better how EPA and DHA from fish such as Alaska salmon protect heart health. Omega-3s can multi-task: they affect the heart, blood vessels, immune system, and fat metabolism to combat the development of heart disease. Eating fatty fish brings long-lasting health benefits.”

An October 2004 article in the Los Angeles Times also reported these studies:

“Grandma may have sworn by cod liver oil, but to scientists the fish oil-heart link dates from the late 1970s, forged by Danish investigators studying the indigenous peoples of Greenland,” wrote reporter Rosie Mestel. “The scientist noted that although the Inuit had diets loaded with fats, their death rates from heart attacks were significantly lower than the Danes.

“Perhaps, reasoned the investigators, this might have something to do with the type of fats being eaten - a lot of oils from seal and fish for the people of Greenland compared with saturated fats from the milk, cheese, and meat-rich diets enjoyed by the Danes.”

“In one large Italian study, 11,324 men and women with pre-existing heart diseases were given 850 milligrams a day of fish omega-3s, a placebo, or vitamin E. The vitamin and placebo did nothing. But 3½ years later, fish oil-takers were 15% less likely to have died or had a nonfatal heart attack or stroke. Most strikingly, their rate of sudden death - in other words, death within one hour of the heart attack - was 45% lower that for those who took placebos.

“In another study, men who had suffered heart attacks were counseled to eat more oily fish - and, two years later, were 29% less likely to have died, especially of a fatal heart attack.”

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