Marine Omega Fatty Acids prevent Heart Failure

It turns out that eating fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources protects you from heart failure. A large study of men only has recently been released showing that these substances appear to be healthy for you. The study showed that eating at least one serving of fatty fish a week and those who had about 0.3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids per day had a sustained effect

on heart failure. Eating more of these foods did not improve the chances of not getting heart failure any more and, in fact, increased the risk of the disease to nonuse levels.

Food supplements, on the other hand, those that contain omega-3 fatty acids, did not make any difference in getting heart failure. This means that you must actually consume the fatty acids in your food, including actually eating the marine fish recommended in the study.

Fatty fish include herring, salmon, whitefish, mackerel and char. These were the fish men ate once per week (or didn’t eat). Those who ate these fish had a 12 percent less chance of getting heart failure when compared to those who didn’t eat the fish. This alone was not helpful, according to statistics, but when added to the intake of 0.36 grams of omega-3 fatty acids per day in fish oils or cod liver oils, the statistics increased to a 33 percent less risk of heart failure.

In the study, there were five groups of men that consumed differing amounts of food per week, including differing amounts of omega-3 oils and increasing amounts of fish in the diet. Those that ate just one serving per week had the greatest advantage in lowering the risk of heart failure. The same U-shaped effect can be seen when looking at the omega-3 fatty acid intake. Higher levels didn’t necessarily translate to more benefit.

The U shape of the results were unexpected by the researchers who thought perhaps that more might mean better. Some men may have been eating more fish to try and combat their already poor health and this may have skewed the studies. They don’t believe there is anything innate in omega 3 fatty acids that make them dangerous at high doses.