There is no doubt that increasing your intake of Omega 3 found mainly in fish oil can help prevent some types of heart disease and cardio vascular problems.
The American Heart Association recognizes the heart health benefits of Omega 3 fish oils.
And that’s good news for your heart health. Fish oil helps prevent heart related problems and keeps your heart healthier. There is indeed a fish oil heart health link.
However what about people who already have heart related problems? Is there some link between taking fish oil and heart disease treatment? Or is it just prevention?
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has just published a study that combines the results of 4 other studies of around 40000 people. This confirms that yes there is a link between more fish oil or Omega 3 fats and treating existing heart problems.
This is also recognized by the AHA, they recommend minimum levels of Omega 3 dietary intake on their website, and for those people with existing heart problems the minimum level is double that recommended for people with no preexisting, or known, cardio vascular problems.
The new results are found on the website of the Journal, published yesterday, and a good summary is as follows:
“Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid therapy continues to show great promise in primary and, particularly in secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. The most compelling evidence for CV benefits of -3 PUFA comes from 4 controlled trials of nearly 40,000 participants randomized to receive eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) with or without docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in studies of patients in primary prevention, after myocardial infarction, and most recently, with heart failure.”
So clearly there is a fish oil heart disease link including for the treatment of existing cardio vascular disease.
It is important to note though that for anyone with known heart problems a doctor should be consulted before starting any regime of Omega 3 fish oil supplementation.
For those who are beginning to look for good Omega 3 supplements its worth reading my website where I have an article about this.
For those wondering about how much to take, the Journal also provides these guidelines, which accord closely with those published by the AHA. For those without any known vardio vascular conditions, 500 mg per day. For those with known cardio vascular conditions, around 800 – 1000 mg per day, however it notes that there is still a need for more studies to determine the relative amounts of EPA versus DHA.
And the AHA make similar recommendations on their website.
So if you’re getting serious about your heart health, both present and future, you may well find that taking some fish oil supplements daily could be one of the best things you could do. Your life may depend on it.
I write much more extensively about Omega 3 supplements on my website.
