Omega 3 fatty acids and there effect on Heart

Summary:

Studies have been carried out to find out if fish oils reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. This article focuses on the use of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) and Coronary heart disease (CHD).

Introduction

What are Omega 3 Fatty Acids?

Omega 3 Fatty acids are a combination of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These amino acids form one of the twenty essential forms of amino acids required by the human body for maintaining good health. They, however, fall under the category of those amino acids that cannot be generated by the body. Therefore, they have to be extracted from external sources like fish, eggs, and certain organ meats. In plants, omega-3 fatty acids are known as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Vegetable oils like corn, sunflower, soybean, and safflower oils contain omega-6 fatty acid known as linoleic acid (LNA). Other sources of linoleic acid include non-hydrogenated canola oil, ground flaxseed and selected nuts like walnuts.

What causes heart disease?

Research has been carried out in the past to see if there is a relationship between increased use of Omega 3 fatty acids and a reduction in heart disease occurrence. It was found that increasing consumption of fresh fish caused a significant reduction in mortality caused by heart disease when compared with those who did not consume fish at all. The results of these studies raised a lot of interest in the role of Omega 3 fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids as a method for secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

According to Medical News Today, 2017, Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for almost 1 in every 4 deaths, and affecting significantly more men than women. Heart disease is a term used to describe several conditions, which arise from plaque buildup in the arteries of the heart. Heart attacks or Strokes are a result of the accumulation of fat in the arteries of the heart. This slows down blood flow increases the chances of heart attacks.

What is known about the effectiveness of Omega 3 fatty acids in the prevention of heart disease?

An epidemiological study showed that the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) was 10 times lower among the Inuit when compared with Danes. This promoted British physiologist Hugh Sinclair to carry out a study in the 1940’s, were he compared the diet of the Inuit with that of the Danes and came to the conclusion that the Inuit diet protected them against atherosclerosis and other heart diseases. On an average, the Inuit consumed 400 g of seafood per day. This implied that their intake of omega-3 fatty acids was 14 g per day while the Danes took 3 g per day. This produced the difference in fatty acid composition of platelets in the blood of both populations. Differences were also observed in hemostatic factors, bleeding time, serum triglycerides, and cholesterol levels. In 1956, Sinclair hypothesized, that omega-3 fatty acids may be responsible for the protective effect of the Inuit diet against heart disease (D Kromhout, S Yasuda, J M. Geleijnse, H Shimokawa, 2012).

To prove his hypothesis, Sinclair put himself in on an Inuit diet for 100 days and his obtained some interesting results:

1. His bleeding time rose from 3 – 5 to 50 min
2. A substantial decrease was observed in his blood platelets, erythrocytes, cell volume, and hemoglobin levels.
3. His triglyceride-rich “very low- density lipoprotein” (VLDL) fell while his high-density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction increased considerably.

From his experiment, Sinclair concluded that it is important to have the right amount of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to prevent thrombotic disorders (D Kromhout, S Yasuda, J M. Geleijnse, H Shimokawa, 2012)

More research to support that fish oil benefits heart disease patient

Although the effects of supplements on clinical cardiovascular events in the general population have not been examined, a few contemporary clinical research suggest that fish oils do not help heart patients pre and post heart operations. However, more than 20,000 articles have been published that support the benefits of fish oil in preventing heart disease. Also, the researchers did not consider the GISSI prevention trial, which is considered the gold standard of fish oil studies.

In the GISSI trial, researchers scrutinized data of more than 11,000 patients who had recently experienced a heart attack and found that the group of patients who took one gram of fish oil a day had 40 percent fewer deaths than patients’ not taking fish oil at all.  As a matter of fact, the trial was stopped early because patients taking the placebo were dying at faster rates. (Sinatra, 2018)

Image courtesy (D Kromhout, S Yasuda, J M. Geleijnse, H Shimokawa, 2012)

Benefits of Fish oil pills

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that are important in preventing and managing heart disease. Their benefits are many some of which include:

• Fish oil reduces triglycerides that lead to an array of heart problems, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
• Fish oils slow down the accumulation of plaque in the arteries that carry blood to the heart.
• Fish oil has a consistent effect of lowering abnormal heart rhythms in both humans and animals (Kang, 2012).
• Fish oil Reduces the likelihood of heart attacks and may prevent strokes.
• Regular use of Omega 3 fish oil reduces the chance of sudden cardiac death in people with heart disease.

(Steinbaum, 2017)

Are omega 3 fatty acid supplements safe?

• Omega-3 fatty acids produce very mild side effects if any.
• There’s conflicting evidence on whether fish oils may influence the risk of heart attack.
• If patients have a history of heart problem or you’re allergic to fish or shellfish or if you are on blood thinning medication, it’s always safer to consult a doctor before taking any form of heart supplement.

Why you should use Fish Oil Omega Gold 1400 from Healthy Naturals

Studies carried out on commercial Fish oils in the market have detected trace amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in some brands of fish oil supplements. Although PCBs and other industrial chemicals were banned in 1979 because they were linked to cancer. They are still found in fish exposed to contaminated water from soil runoff. Also, on examination, some brands have been found not to provide the amounts of DHA and EPA they advertise on their labels. Healthy Naturals provides 800mg EPA and 600mg DHA, higher than the amount found in other brands.

Healthy Naturals harvest their fish oil from wild fish found in the pristine waters of North and South America. The natural fish oil concentrate in soft gel capsules is manufactured under strict quality control standards. It is specially tested to ensure that it is free of potentially harmful of heavy metal contaminants like heavy metals, and PCB’s dioxins. The enteric soft gel capsules from Healthy Naturals are very easy to tolerate since the avoid reflux and an offensive fishy aftertaste.

Conclusion

The human heart as an organ is highly complex. On the basis of literature review, this article suggests that Omega-3 fatty acids could be beneficial for helping people with Cardio Vascular Disease and Coronary heart disease and could also prove effective in prevention. Ongoing research in the use of supplements will continue to aid our understanding of the use of omega-3 fatty acids for reducing heart disease.

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Created on Jul 30th 2018 11:16. Viewed 658 times.

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