Reduce Your Risk For A Major Cardiovascular Event

For people who suffer a heart attack, there is the normal course of treatment: potential surgery to undo clogged arteries, possibly a full bypass, and medications.

One of the more popular medications, statins, have gained popularity since the mid-90s as a way to reduce cholesterol in people who have suffered a heart attack and for those with high cholesterol, as a preventative treatment option.

Another method of treatment, with or without statins, that sometimes could be recommended by your doctors is to use omega-3 fatty acid supplements in order to improve many aspects of heart health.

Those aspects can include lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, raising HDL (good) cholesterol, lowering triglycerides, and reducing inflammation.

However, a new study published in the European Heart Journal, could show that statins could potentially reduce the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids.

Let me explain...

Omega-3 and Statins

Researchers wanted to test and see if statin use modified the effects of omega-3 fatty acids and if omega-3 use in people NOT on statins reduced major cardiovascular events - especially in people with a history of heart attacks (MI).

They recruited a total of 4,153 subjects and divided them into 2 groups.

One group contained people who regularly used statins (3,740) and those who did not regularly use statins (413).

For both groups, they administered 400 mg of EPA plus DHA and ALA.

EPA and DHA are omega-3 fatty acids that have been linked to improvements in cardiovascular health and other health areas.

ALA is the plant form of omega-3 fatty acids, which once in the body, depending on the needs at the time, the body can convert ALA into DHA.

In statin users, there were 495 (13%) cases of major cardiovascular events and in non-statin users, there were 62 (15%) cases.

The researchers noted that statin users administered EPA, DHA, and ALA showed no effects at reducing cardiovascular risk compared to controls.

In the non-statin group, however, they noticed that participants given EPA, DHA, and ALA showed that only 9% of the subjects developed a major cardiovascular event.

From their research, they came to two conclusions.

First, in patients with a history of heart attack (MI) and not using statins, that low-dose omega-3 supplementation (EPA, DHA, and ALA) could reduce major cardiovascular events.

Secondly, they concluded through this study, that the use of statins could modify the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on reducing major cardiovascular events in people who previously had a heart attack.

More Good News For Omega-3s

Omega-3 fatty acids have long been used as a way to improve different aspects of heart health.

They have been shown to improve cholesterol levels (lowering LDL and raising HDL), improve triglyceride levels, and also lower chronic inflammation.

However, people who have had a heart attack before, have been advised to use statins in combination with omega-3 fatty acids to help lower cholesterol, therefore potentially reducing your risk.

Now, according to new research, omega-3 fatty acids may be less effective when used in combination with statin medications.

However, this study is new, and the results need to be verified, but it could show promise for omega-3 fatty acids as a treatment option for people who are not using statins.

Including omega-3 fatty acids into your daily routine, could improve heart health and may reduce your risk for developing a major cardiovascular event.


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References:

Eussen, SRBM.  Geleijnse, J.  Giltay, E.  Rompelberg, C.  Klungel, O.  Kromhout, D.  Effects of n-3 fatty acids on major cardiovascular events in statin users and non-users with a history of myocardial infarction.  Eur Heart J.  2012. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehr499.