The benefits of omega-3 fish oil

Patients with heart diseases always face the threat of sudden death or a potentially life-threatening irregularity of the heartbeat called arrhythmia.

There is now a growing body of evidence that supplementation with omega-3 fish oil can reduce the risk of sudden death in many high-risk heart patients.

A study published in the journal Circulation by Dr. Alexander Leaf and his colleagues at the Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts showed that the regular ingestion of fish oil fatty acids for 12 months may have benefited the patients due to a longer time to first potentially fatal arrhythmic event or death from any cause among patients randomized to fish oil compared with those randomized to olive-oil placebo.

It would suggest that omega-3 can help suppress the potentially fatal arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation or VF.

Most patients included in his analysis were at high risk for fatal arrhythmias but still had relatively good heart function, he said.

For him, the results of his study and previous epidemiological research support the use of fish oil in this high-risk patient population.

Many heart experts agree that there is good evidence that fish oil supplementation reduces mortality, likely by suppressing ischemic VF.

They said this was evident in the landmark GISSI-Prevenzione trial, published in the Lancet journal, and is one of the most widely quoted studies showing the benefit of fish-oil supplementation.

Locally, more and more doctors are recommending omega-3 supplementation to prevent sudden cardiac death in high-risk patients.

Aside from reducing the risk of sudden death, research evidence from well designed scientific researches consisting of multiple large-scale population studies and randomized controlled trials show that intake of recommended amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the form of dietary fish or fish oil supplements lowers blood triglycerides, risk of heart attack, dangerous abnormal heart rhythms, and strokes in people with known cardiovascular disease.

Cost-effectiveness studies published in the Pharmacoeconomics journal have also showed that long-term treatment with PUFA is comparable with some statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs which are now established as routine care in the secondary prevention after a heart attack.

Omegabloc is one of the brands of omega-3 fish oil locally available in Mercury and other leading drug stores. It has been available in the country for more than 10 years and is now prescribed by many doctors. Usual recommended dose is one softgel two to three times daily.

Omegabloc comes from NOW Foods in the United States that is one of the top manufacturers of vitamins and food supplements worldwide. It is represented in the Philippines by Trianon International.

Provincial distributors are welcomed by the company and may call Charles Cultura, Trianon national sales and marketing manager, at 892-0723 or 24.