A new study conducted by Dutch scientists has revealed that the consumption of low-dose omega-3 fatty acid supplements do not prevent heart patients against further cardiac trouble. The study showed that the consumption of low doses of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which are found in fish oil and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), derived from nuts and several vegetable oils, are of no help for the people suffering from heart related ailments.
The researchers focused on patients who were already taking medications to control blood pressure, cholesterol and potential clotting. Study author Daan Kromhout will present the findings later today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Stockholm. New England Journal of Medicine will publish the study online simultaneously.
The Dutch scientists studied a group of more than 4,800 Dutch heart attack patients between the ages of 60 and 80, and all had experienced a heart attack at some point in the decade leading up to the study. During the study, the patients consumed an average of 18.8 grams of margarine daily.
"The bottom-line finding of the Alpha Omega Trial is that [omega]-3 fatty acids did not reduce the primary endpoint major cardiovascular events," Kromhout said.
“Epidemiological studies in healthy populations have also suggested that 250 mg EPA + DHA or eating fish once or twice a week can lower the risk of CVD by a similar amount. For ALA, there is less evidence of a cardioprotective effect. We designed the Alpha Omega Trial as a dietary intervention study to examine the effect of low doses of n-3 fatty acids on major cardiovascular events,” added Kromhout.
Talking to BusinessWeek, Dr. Murray A. Mittleman, director of the cardiovascular epidemiology research unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said he was "not that surprised by these results."
"Other studies have shown no benefit from omega-3, other than specifically protecting against cardiac death linked to arrhythmia among patients who have just survived a heart attack," Mittleman noted.
