Be careful how you interpret the info!
Today's local news paper ran an article, stating that supplementing Omega-3 fatty acid-an important healthy fat-didn't help to prevent heart attack patients from preventing another cardiac event.
Omega-3 is praised for its heart health enhancing properties. However, supplementation of omega-3 in the post cardiac patients was found to be no more effective than the newer medical treatment approaches.
My concern is that people will read this article and misinterpret the information, in regards to their personal nutrition and supplementation.
Today's local news paper ran an article, stating that supplementing Omega-3 fatty acid-an important healthy fat-didn't help to prevent heart attack patients from preventing another cardiac event.
Omega-3 is praised for its heart health enhancing properties. However, supplementation of omega-3 in the post cardiac patients was found to be no more effective than the newer medical treatment approaches.
My concern is that people will read this article and misinterpret the information, in regards to their personal nutrition and supplementation.
The suggested supplementation of omega 3 is merely to compensate for what is missing in a persons natural diet. Omega 3 fatty acid is one of those nutrients that are believed to be lacking in a North American diet. The best sources of omega-3 fats are fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies, shellfish, and omega-3 enriched eggs. Other foods that can add to the omega-3 fat content of your diet include milled flaxseed, flax oil, and canola oil.
Remember this study was performed on patients who many I'm sure suffered their first heart attack due to poor lifestyle practices. There really is no mention, and very difficult to know exactly why these individuals had a heart attack in the first place.
What we do know, are the most common causes of heart attack. And we have to assume that these individuals are no different, in as far as what made them at risk prior to the crisis. The major precursors to heart attack, are lifestyle influences; such as stress, poor nutrition, smoking, being over weight, and inactivity.
Once our organism is diseased, the disease itself is just one factor of a systemic breakdown. When you have the physical and symptomatic manifestation of an illness, you can bet it's been reaping havoc in your body long before it made itself known. Many of the body's systems had been performing at a suboptimal level well before the heart attack. Getting the body back to healthy status is terribly complicated once you've reached that point.
While it's certainly reassuring that medical advancement is improving survival rates from heart attack, we need to remind ourselves that this study was performed on a large number of people who have already been host to a very serious illness, and suffered the deteriorating effects of the disease for many years. Simply put, the test subjects were already sick and should not be used by "you" as a template to evaluate your personal choices.
If you don't resemble the subject group in this report; you may not want to question the efficacy of your omega-3 supplementation, especially if you suspect you don't obtain enough of it in your diet.
