Frank Ryan's Blog - Posts Tagged "omega-3s"
Omega-3s save lives in the age of statins
This paper was produced by Mitsuhiro Yokoyama and others in Japan.
The title of the paper is:
Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on major coronary events in
hypercholesterolaemic patients (JELIS): a randomised open label,
blinded endpoint analysis
Eicosapentaenoic acid is a key omega-3 only naturally found in fish and fish oil products.
This study involved 18,645 patients, all of whom had high blood cholesterols. They needed a large number to demonstrate significant effect in patients who had no serious coronary artery disease to start with and over the relatively short time period of up to 5 years. All of the patients were already being treated with statins to reduce their blood cholesterol. They were divided into a treatment and control group, with the treatment group given 1800 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) as well as the statin and the control group given the statin only. Follow-up continued for up to 5 years. But follow-up was deliberately ended in those patients who suffered any specified major coronary event, including the diagnosis of unstable angina (angina thought to be worsening over time), the need for angioplasty (percutaneous operation for narrowed coronary arteries), or coronary artery bypass grafting (open surgery on coronary arteries).
Some 2.8% of patients in the EPA treatment group suffered one of these major coronary events and 3.5% in the control group. In other words there was a reduction of 19% in patients treated with EPA. This is the first high quality well conducted “intervention” study in patients who were also being treated with statins.
Most patients at risk are given statins these days but they are not usually given EPA (or omega-3s) as well. This makes it rather special and something that doctors might perhaps take notice of.
Google the paper title to find the scientific reference to the paper.
I co-wrote the first book ever to introduce the importance of the omega-3s and heart attack prevention for ordinary readers, The title was "The Eskimo Diet" and it was a bestseller in the UK in 1990. I also wrote the much more recent "The Brain Food Diet", which gathered together the information on omega-3s and prevention of mental decline with age.
The latter is now available as an affordable kindle.
The Brain Food Diet
The title of the paper is:
Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on major coronary events in
hypercholesterolaemic patients (JELIS): a randomised open label,
blinded endpoint analysis
Eicosapentaenoic acid is a key omega-3 only naturally found in fish and fish oil products.
This study involved 18,645 patients, all of whom had high blood cholesterols. They needed a large number to demonstrate significant effect in patients who had no serious coronary artery disease to start with and over the relatively short time period of up to 5 years. All of the patients were already being treated with statins to reduce their blood cholesterol. They were divided into a treatment and control group, with the treatment group given 1800 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) as well as the statin and the control group given the statin only. Follow-up continued for up to 5 years. But follow-up was deliberately ended in those patients who suffered any specified major coronary event, including the diagnosis of unstable angina (angina thought to be worsening over time), the need for angioplasty (percutaneous operation for narrowed coronary arteries), or coronary artery bypass grafting (open surgery on coronary arteries).
Some 2.8% of patients in the EPA treatment group suffered one of these major coronary events and 3.5% in the control group. In other words there was a reduction of 19% in patients treated with EPA. This is the first high quality well conducted “intervention” study in patients who were also being treated with statins.
Most patients at risk are given statins these days but they are not usually given EPA (or omega-3s) as well. This makes it rather special and something that doctors might perhaps take notice of.
Google the paper title to find the scientific reference to the paper.
I co-wrote the first book ever to introduce the importance of the omega-3s and heart attack prevention for ordinary readers, The title was "The Eskimo Diet" and it was a bestseller in the UK in 1990. I also wrote the much more recent "The Brain Food Diet", which gathered together the information on omega-3s and prevention of mental decline with age.
The latter is now available as an affordable kindle.
The Brain Food Diet
