Re: Need EFA's in small capsules

"Pez D Spencer" <colecoadam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Following a review of 89 studies published online by the British
Medical Journal (BMJ), doubts have been over the general scientific and
public consensus that omega-3 oils can help protect against
cardiovascular disease and cancer. Upon pooling the results,
researchers from the University of East Anglia and eight other
institutions found "no strong evidence" that omega-3 fats have an
effect on total mortality or combined cardiovascular events."

http://www.food-business-review.com/article_feature.asp?guid=3E5095B1-E147-4BF1-8C1B-CEF82EEDB5AC

"A new statistical analysis of the 48 best trials that investigated
whether fish oil cuts the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke
has found "little evidence" of benefit - and suggests that fish
oil capsules may actually increase the risk."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article354149.ece

"When data on long-chain omega-3 fats were analyzed separately, total
mortality and cardiovascular events were not reduced. No study showed
increased risk of cancer or stroke with higher intake of omega-3, but
there were too few events to rule out important effects."

http://www.mydna.com/health/heart/news/news_20060324_fish_health_omega3.html

OK. Three general media articles, all referring to a review article
and an editorial in the British Medical Journal.[1,2] The BMJ article
is a meta-analysis which excludes a lot of studies for having a high
risk of bias. More importantly, the lead author, Hooper, admits that
his analysis conflicts with the meta-analysis of another researcher,
Bucher, published in the American Journal of Medicine[3], but he
argues that Bucher did not analyze the two conflicting DART studies by
Burr. So basically, it appears that most of the controversy relates
to Burr's unexpected results in the Diet and Angina Randomized Trial
(DART 2) study, where he found that eating fatty fish did not reduce
mortality, and taking fish oil capsules correlated with a higher risk
of cardiac and sudden death. The BMJ editorial clearly makes a big
deal of those findings, despite the fact that they conflict with
Burr's earlier findings in the Diet and Reinfarction Trial (DART)
study.

So why don't we see what Dr. Burr has to say about the conflicts
between his two studies? Well, it seems that the cohort in his first
study, with positive results, were men immediately recovering from
myocardial infarction, but those in the second study were men with
chronic ischemic heart disease (IHD). And he suspects that one
problem may be that people with chronic IHD may be taking their daily
dose all at once, which may be too much at one time because those
people's hearts are accustomed to "re-tuning" their rhythms, and a
large bolus of omega-3s, instead of reducing cardiac arrhythmia, may
actually increase it. So in Burr's opinion, the difference in the two
studies has to do with the different subjects in each study, and maybe
those with chronic IHD shouldn't take their daily dose of fish oil all
at once.[4]

And even Dr. Hooper admits:

"UK guidelines encourage the general public to eat more oily fish, and
higher amounts are advised after myocardial infarction (supported by
trials after myocardial infarction). [Footnotes omitted] This advice
should continue at present but the evidence should be reviewed
regularly. It is probably not appropriate to recommend a high intake
of omega 3 fats for people who have angina but have not had a
myocardial infarction."[1]

That's a pretty limited conclusion; it's definitely not "omega-3's
don't really do anything for heart health at all."

And even the BMJ editorial admits, aside from heart disease, the
omega-3s in fish oil are established to have anti-inflammatory
properties, as well being important components of neural tissues.[2]

Just thought I'd share that with you.

1. Hooper L, Thompson RL, Harrison RA, Summerbell CD, Ness AR, Moore
HJ, et al. Risks and benefits of omega3 fats for mortality,
cardiovascular disease and cancer: a systematic review. BMJ 2006.
[Epub ahead of print; doi = 10.1136/bmj.38755.366331.2F].

2. Brunner E. Oily fish and omega 3 fat supplements: health
recommendations conflict with concerns about dwindling supply. BMJ
2006. [Epub ahead of print; doi:10.1136/bmj.38798.680185.47].

3. Bucher HC, Hengstler P, Schindler C, Meier G. N-3 polyunsaturated
fatty acids in coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomized
controlled trials. Am J Med. 2002 Mar;112(4):298-304.

4. Burr ML, Dunstan FD, George CH. Is fish oil good or bad for heart
disease? Two trials with apparently conflicting results. J Membr Biol.
2005 Jul;206(2):155-63.

--

JMW
http://www.rustyiron.net
.

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