Fish Oil linked to longevity, better hospital outcomes

New research suggests the fatty acids may possess a fundamental benefit: heart patients with high omega-3 intake had relatively longer "telomeres," which are stretches of DNA whose length correlates with longevity.

Cardiologists from the University of California, San Francisco, and other hospitals measured telomere length over five years in 608 patients who had coronary-artery blockage and previous heart attacks. Researchers found that people with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their white blood cells experienced significantly less shortening of telomeres over five years, as compared with patients with lower omega-3 levels.

"What we're demonstrating is a potentially new link between omega-3 fatty acids and the aging process," said Ramin Farzaneh-Far, a clinical cardiologist and assistant medical professor at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital who is the lead author of the research. Published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, the study focused only on "marine" omega-3 found in fish, not the type found in vegetable sources like flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil or soybean oil.

There is "very little good evidence for the omega-3s from flax and walnuts," said Dr. LaPuma, author of "ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine." But these foods have other benefits, he said. For instance, "flax meal, by itself, is an important part of lowering LDL," or bad cholesterol, Dr. LaPuma said.

Researchers in the new study said they observed "baseline levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids were associated with decelerated telomere attrition over 5 years." Additionally, Dr. Farzaneh-Far said, "in multiple studies, short telomere length [in white blood cells] has been shown to predict death and cardiovascular events and heart failure." He cautioned that "it's an open question as to whether telomere length is causal or just a marker" of cell death. But he referred to telomere shortening as "a key part of cellular aging."

Bonnie - while it does not take a rocket scientist to come to this conclusion, the fact that it appeared in JAMA will muzzle all those practitioners who called their patients crazy for taking fish oil after I recommended it to them years ago.

Once again, this study confirms that there is no substitute for fish oil, because it is pure EPA/DHA. Flax, walnuts, and other plant omega-3s are extremely healthful, but contain mainly ALA, which needs to be broken down and converted into EPA/DHA. One quarter of the human population are poor converters.

Fish oil given intravenously to patients in intensive care improves gas exchange, reduces inflammatory chemicals and results in a shorter length of hospital stay. Researchers writing in journal Critical Care investigated the effects of including fish oil in the normal nutrient solution for patients with sepsis, finding a significant series of benefits. Researchers state: "recently there has been increased interest in the fat and oil component of vein-delivered nutrition, with the realization that it not only supplies energy and essential building blocks, but may also provide bioactive fatty acids. Traditional solutions use soybean oil, which does not contain the omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish oil that act to reduce inflammatory responses. In fact, soybean oil is rich in omega-6 acids that may actually promote inflammation in an excessive or unbalanced supply."

Bonnie - once again, researchers are just discovering this? How can they think they will get better outcomes when feeding them mostly corn-derived sugar solutions. One reason my daughter had such a great recovery is that we insisted on adding intravenous protein and fat to the carbohydrates.

Hopefully, this won't cause another blitz of physicians being brainwashed by drug reps into thinking that the prescription fish oil is the only game in town. Not only is it more expensive than OTC fish oils, but it contains partially hydrogenated fat. Anyone who has ever been counseled by me knows that there is no safe level of trans fat, which partially hydrogenated fat. The fish oil brands that have never shown to be contaminated by mercury or other harmful substances, according to fish oil researchers, are: Metagenics, Carlson, and Nordic Naturals.