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♥ Omega-3 Scientific Information ♥
The Health Benefits of Omega-3 EPA, and How it Works with DHA to Improve Overall Human Health
EPA: A Bit of Fish Your Heart will Love
Now there's an even better reason for your heart to fall in love with fish oil. New evidence shows that the Omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), exclusively found in fish oil, may protect against heart attacks and even help you survive one.
Japanese researchers undertaking a recent study (JELIS) found a link between EPA and a decrease in heart attacks and other heart problems. EPA was also linked to lowering LDL (bad cholesterol), and improving symptoms of angina (the chest pain caused when the heart doesn't get enough blood oxygen).1 According to evidence from health research and clinical studies, EPA has a number of cardiovascular benefits, such as preventing blood clots, and reducing the inflammation and high triglyceride levels that contribute to heart disease.
The Japanese study takes this research further by attempting to show that EPA may actually thwart heart attacks – including fatal heart attacks.
The study recruited nearly 20,000 patients with high cholesterol. The men and women, aged 40 to 75 years, were divided into two groups. One group received daily doses of highly purified EPA (1800 milligrams) plus cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. The second group took statins alone. Some had previous heart problems, such as heart attacks and angina.
A follow-up study after five years showed significant improvements for the patients who took EPA with statins: an average 19% reduction in major overall heart problems – including a 28% reduction in angina attacks and a 25% reduction in both heart attacks and deaths from heart attacks. The results were clear – beyond statins, EPA appeared to provide health and life-saving benefits to people with high cholesterol and heart disease. EPA supplementation was also well tolerated among the study's participants, unlike many prescription drugs for heart disease.
Harvard Medical School instructor, Dariush Mozaffarian, states in comments that accompany the study: "Compared with drugs, invasive procedures, and devices, modest dietary changes are low risk, inexpensive, and widely available."2
The Japanese study provides some of the best evidence to date that EPA, the fatty acid found only in fish oil, is a crucial component to a longer, healthier life.
1. Yokoyama et al. Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on major coronary events in hypercholes-terolaemic patients (JELIS): a randomised open-label, blinded endpoint analysis. The Lancet 2007;369:1090-98
2. Mozaffarian. JELIS, fish oil, and cardiac events. The Lancet 2007;369:1062-63
A Fishy Fashion Heart Patients Should Follow
Something's fishy about the latest Italian trend – and it's not in the clothing aisle. According to a recent New York Times article1, Italian doctors and hospitals are sending their heart attack survivors home with a cost-effective remedy that's been proven safe, and effective, and doesn't need a prescription – purified fish oil with Omega-3.
Unfortunately, in North America, that trend has not been copied. Heart doctors, in the US and Canada, are much more apt to send patients home with pricey, and sometimes risky, prescriptions such as blood thinners and drugs that lower cholesterol or blood pressure.
The problem is that despite volumes of evidence supporting Omega-3, as a crucial defense in the war against heart disease, Omega-3 is not endorsed by the FDA for heart health.
The good news is that US institutions, such as the American College of Cardiology, are beginning to revise their stances in favor of Omega-3 supplementation. Recently, the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine published an article that advised of doctors' need for better awareness of Omega-3.
Ask your doctor about the benefits of Omega-3 for heart health, today.
1. Rosenthal. In Europe It's Fish Oil After Heart Attacks, but Not in U.S. The New York Times, Oct. 3, 2006
Omega-3 Can Help You... Lose Weight and Feel Great!
There's nothing fishy about this weight-loss story: Omega-3 purified fish oil has been shown to help overweight people lose weight – in a healthy way.
It's known that both moderate exercise and Omega-3 can, independently, make for a healthier heart and increase metabolism (calorie burning). But a recent study has found that Omega-3 and exercise work even better together.
A University of South Australia study reports that participants who exercised and took Omega-3 purified fish oil capsules lost body fat and burned calories at a much higher rate than the participants who exercised but didn't take Omega-3.1
Fish oil is a good fat
Adding fish to your diet gives your body proven health benefits, from better brain function, to a healthier heart and blood vessels, to improved vision, and more. That's because fish contains very beneficial fats – specifically the Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.
Purified Omega-3 fish oil capsules provide all the benefits of fish oil, without the unwanted contaminants present in some fish – which is why purified fish oil is recommended by doctors and used in many medical studies.
Weight-loss study
The Australian weight-loss study focused on 75 overweight and obese men, and women, aged 25 to 65 years old. All had cardiovascular disease symptoms such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Over a 3-month span, participants ate identical meals and exercised moderately and regularly (45 minutes of walking or running, three times a week). They were divided into four groups – those who took Omega-3 purified fish oil capsules (with 200 milligrams of EPA/DHA total) and those who took sunflower oil (plus non-exercising control groups who took either fish oil or sunflower oil).
The results: the Omega-3 takers not only lost weight – about five pounds of body fat each – they also lowered their blood triglycerides (bad fats) and raised their HDL (good cholesterol).
Kids benefit, too
Swedish researchers measuring the diet habits and body mass index (BMI) of 182 children discovered that kids who had higher BMIs ate far fewer unsaturated fats, especially Omega-3, than kids with normal BMIs.2
Anti-aging effect
Fish oil, combined with calorie reduction, also keeps aging in check. Research already shows that reducing calories can slow heart disease and therefore increase lifespan. A preliminary study, done on mice, has found that fish oil, in combination with a reduced calorie diet, worked better than dieting alone to slow heart disease and increase lifespan. Omega-3, plus dieting, significantly reduced blood levels of oxidants and inflammation markers - both linked to age-related disease.3
Conclusion
The right track to losing weight and feeling great is Omega-3. Combined with exercise and/or calorie reduction, Omega-3 may help kids avoid obesity while contributing to a healthy heart.
The best way to make Omega-3 an essential part of your diet is by taking purified fish oil capsules or by consuming Omega-3 enriched foods.
1. Hill et al. Combining fish-oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise improves body composition and cardiovascular disease risk factors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007;85:1267-74
2. Garemo, et al. Föreläsningssal 1, Drottning Silvias Barn och Ungdomssjukhus, Göteborg, kl. 13.00
3. Kim et al. Anti-inflammatory action of dietary fish oil and calorie restriction. Life Sciences 2006;78(21):2523-32
Mind Your Omega-3: Fish Oil Foils Dementia and Alzheimer's
Fuzzy thinking could be a thing of the past for the elderly. Mounting evidence shows that Omega-3 from fish oil may protect against age-related brain diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer's, by keeping older minds healthy.
Think fish oil
A study which forms part of the Healthy Aging: Longitudinal Study in Europe (HALE) has found that fish eaters had a significantly lower loss in thinking ability than people who didn't eat fish.1
The Zutphen Elderly Study followed 556 men, aged 70 to 89, measuring their cognitive function at the study's start in 1990 and again in 1995. During that time, the amount of Omega-3 they received from their meals was carefully monitored. The final outcome was based on the 210 men who successfully completed the study.
Those who ate the most Omega-3, especially in the form of fish (EPA and DHA), showed the least loss in thinking ability. Researchers concluded that even moderate consumption of Omega-3 (about 400 milligrams daily of EPA plus DHA) resulted in less cognitive decline in elderly men.
| Article ID: | 10 |
| State | Published |
| Hits | 144 |
| Revised | 14 Times |
| Created | Friday, 19 March 2010 10:47 |
| Modified | Friday, 19 March 2010 10:47 |
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