Category: Cardiovascular

Fish Oil for the Heart

Claus Hancke

March 7, 2003

Essential oils in fish oil can prevent heart disease in elderly people. Quite many consumers and doctors have good experiences with this, but now it has also been confirmed by a study, recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The trial included 360 persons at the age of 65, and the researchers found that a high concentration of the fatty acids DHA and EPA is associated with a lower risk of dying of blood clots in the heart.

– “Again, this is a good example of a preventive measure with natural substances such as fish oil, pays off” says Claus Hancke, chairman of the Vitality Council.

–  Fish oil reduces the risk of both blood clots and atherosclerosis, so there is common sense in taking fish oil, especially if you do not eat as much fish.

– Research results of this type unfortunately receive far too little attention in Denmark, on the contrary, we have often been told that dietary supplements are not useful at all. As a consumer, therefore, it can be difficult to know what to believe.

– Therefore, I believe that a sober-minded information about dietary supplements such as fish oil should be one of the obvious tasks for a future Council for Exercise and Nutrition, says Hancke, who is a specialist in general medicine and General Manager of the Department of Orthomolecular Medicine in Lyngby.

Science today knows very little about the link between heart disease in the elderly and the body’s content of these fatty acids, and therefore studies like this are welcomed by the doctors who work with orthomolecular medicine on a daily basis, popularly speaking: Biological medicine.

By Vitality Council

Reference:
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 77, No. 2, 319-325, February 2003.

www.ajcn.org
www.iom.dk

Folic Acid Supplementation may Minimize the Risk of Three of the Biggest Circulatory Diseases

Admin

November 23, 2002

A study, a so called meta analysis of 92 studies involving 20,669 patients, was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) the 23 November 2002.

Earlier studies have found a connection with a too high value of the substance Homocysteine in the body with coronary diseases like blood clots in the heart, blood clots in the legs, and in the brain.

Homocysteine is increased by deficiency of several vitamin Bs, especially vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and folic acid, and by a common genetic defect that reduces the activity of an enzyme in the folic acid metabolism. The result of this defect is a condition called “functional vitamin B deficiency”, which means a need for greater intake of folic acid in the exposed ones.

Increased homocysteine – no matter the cause – has shown to be significantly related to the three following diseases. By a reduction in the homocysteine of the blood of 3 mikromol/l it was possible to decrease the incidents of heart diseases with 16%. Deep venetrombose, with or without lung emboli, with 25%. The reduction in the frequens of blood cloths in the brain (strokes) was 24%.

The authors conclude:
That by reducing the homocysteine concentration with 3 mikromol/l (which alone can be obtained by increasing the folic acid intake, editor) the risk of heart disease can be reduced with 16%, the risk of deep venetrombose with 25%, and the risk of stroke with 24%.

By: Per Tork Larsen, DSOM

Reference:
British Medical Journal; Nov, 2002.

www.bmj.com
www.iom.dk