Posted by: Kevin G. Parker, D.C.
Annals of Internal Medicine 2 April 2013;158(7):515-525
Plasma Phospholipid Long-Chain ω-3 Fatty Acids and Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Older Adults: A Cohort Study-Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH; Rozenn N. Lemaitre, PhD, MPH; Irena B. King, PhD; Xiaoling Song, PhD; Hongyan Huang, PhD; Frank M. Sacks, MD; Eric B. Rimm, ScD; Molin Wang, PhD; and David S. Siscovick, MD, MPH
Key points:
1. Primarily a Prevention study.
2. omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil are NOT a treatment for diseases–they are essential nutrients that if not consumed in sufficient amounts…make it impossible to genetically express a balance of cellular function and health.
3. The beneficial effects of consuming fish are not just from the EPA and DHA components, the benefits of consuming healthy fish or healthy wild game meats are derived from the FULL COMPLEMENT of fatty acids that are contained in the whole foods.
4. Authors looked at subjects without coronary heart disease, stroke, or heart failure.
5. authors studied whether or not consuming more omega 3 fatty acids increased health status and prevented illness and death.
6.“Higher circulating individual and total omega 3 PUFA levels are associated with lower total mortality, especially CHD death, in older adults.”
7. The subjects who had more sufficient dietary intake of omega 3 fatty acids lived longer and had a significantly decreased chance of dying from heart disease.
8. “After adjustment for demographic, cardiovascular, lifestyle, and dietary factors (including fish intake), both individual and combined levels of EPA, DPA, and DHA were associated with lower total mortality. Across quintiles, individuals with higher EPA, DPA, and DHA levels had 17%, 23%, and 20% lower risk, respectively and those with higher total n-3 PUFA levels had 27% lower risk. For cause-specific deaths, all 3 n-3 fatty acids were associated with lower CVD mortality and their combined levels were associated with a 35% lower risk across quintiles. Among CVD subtypes, DHA seemed most strongly related to CHD death (40% lower risk), especially arrhythmic CHD death (45% lower risk) whereas DPA was most strongly related to stroke death (47% lower risk).”
Conclusion: Higher circulating individual and total ω3-PUFA levels are associated with lower total mortality, especially CHD death, in older adults.
Background: Long-chain ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3-PUFAs), including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (20:5ω-3), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) (22:5ω-3), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (22:6ω-3), have been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk, but effects on cause-specific and total mortality and potential dose-responses remain controversial. Most observational studies have assessed self-reported dietary intake and most randomized trials have tested effects of adding supplements to dietary intake and evaluated secondary prevention, thus limiting inference for dietary ω3-PUFAs or primary prevention.
Objective: To investigate associations of plasma phospholipid EPA, DPA, DHA, and total ω3-PUFA levels with total and cause-specific mortality among healthy older adults not receiving supplements.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: 4 U.S. communities.
Participants: 2692 U.S. adults aged 74 years (±5 years) without prevalent coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, or heart failure at baseline.
Measurements: Phospholipid fatty acid levels and cardiovascular risk factors were measured in 1992. Relationships with total and cause-specific mortality and incident fatal or nonfatal CHD and stroke through 2008 were assessed.
Results: During 30 829 person-years, 1625 deaths (including 570 cardiovascular deaths), 359 fatal and 371 nonfatal CHD events, and 130 fatal and 276 nonfatal strokes occurred. After adjustment, higher plasma levels of ω3-PUFA biomarkers were associated with lower total mortality, with extreme-quintile hazard ratios of 0.83 for EPA (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.98; P for trend = 0.005), 0.77 for DPA (CI, 0.66 to 0.90; P for trend = 0.008), 0.80 for DHA (CI, 0.67 to 0.94; P for trend = 0.006), and 0.73 for total ω3-PUFAs (CI, 0.61 to 0.86; P for trend < 0.001). Lower risk was largely attributable to fewer cardiovascular than noncardiovascular deaths. Individuals in the highest quintile of phospholipid ω3-PUFA level lived an average of 2.22 more years (CI, 0.75 to 3.13 years) after age 65 years than did those in the lowest quintile.
Related articles:
Fish oil-Annals of Internal Medicine 2004
Fish oil-Neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers-Surgical Neurology-65 (April 2006) 326-331
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