Heart attack controlled by Fish Oil and Vitamin E

[Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy] A group of Italian researchers (Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Infarto miocardico) tok a study to determine if there are some preventive effects in patients with a first myocardial infarction in case they will add daily doses of Fish Oil and Vitamin E. The researchers formed 4 groups of patients from the 11000 of participants in the study which all were heart attack survivors, randomly selected. Group one received a one-gram gelatin capsule containing about 580 mg of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 290 mg of Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as ethyl esters every day. Group two received 300 mg of synthetic vitamin E daily; group three both fish oil and vitamin E; and group four served as the control group.

During the study (3,5 years), patients ate a largely Mediterranean diet and have followed their usual medication with Aspirin, Beta-blockers and ACE-inhibitors. After a follow-up of 3,5 years, the study clearly showed that the participants which took Fish Oil together with Vitamin E had lowered their risk of having a heart attack by 10% -15%.

The group taking only Vitamin E alone hadn't revealed some benefic results. (In the study, they used 300mg of synthetic Vitamin E, which is equivalent to about 150 IU of natural vitamin E).
Italian researchers concluded that Fish Oil (equivalent to consuming 100g of fish per day), is beneficial for patient who survived a first heart attack. The role of Vitamin E is not yet clearly revealed, but other studies show that it has the property of preventing the Fish Oil going rancid, once it is swallowed.

Other studies carried in London and Maryland (USA), showed that the Fish Oil probably increases the need of antioxidants in the organism, and Vitamin E, being an antioxidant, substitutes this need (British Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 68, July 1992, pp. 163-73). So, the supplementation with Fish Oil will raise the need of Vitamin E, because they must be taken together to prevent oxidative effects of Fish Oil on the body cells.

References:
This study was funded in part by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmacia-Upjohn, Societa Prodotti Antibiotici, and Pfizer.
Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E after myocardial infarction: results of the GISSI-Prevenzione trial. The Lancet, Vol. 354, August 7, 1999, pp. 447-55
Brown, Morris. Do vitamin E and fish oil protect against ischaemic heart disease? The Lancet, Vol. 354, August 7, 1999, pp. 441-42 (commentary)

Updated: May, 31 2008 11:44:39

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