by Sayer Ji
(GreenMedInfo) Millions take these blockbuster drugs for ‘heart protection,’ and yet they are actually killing the well established heart protective properties of fish oil.
The published literature on the cardiovascular health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids is increasingly contradictory, with multiple studies in the past demonstrating their significant cardioprotective properties, but with newer trials revealing far less certainty of a benefit, including null results.
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What is behind this confusion and inconsistency?
Last year, we reported on a study published in JAMA which proposed that statin drugs are responsible for interfering with contemporary fish oil trial results by inhibiting the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acids – a still widely unrecognized confounding variable which we have not found reported elsewhere. At the time of the JAMA report, this explanation was strictly speculative. Now, a new retrospective study lends significant epidemiological support to the hypothesis.
Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiologists and titled, “STATIN USE MAY MITIGATE THE BENEFIT OF OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS SUPPLEMENTATION: A META-REGRESSION OF RANDOMIZED TRIALS,” researchers performed a meta-analytical review of twenty three randomized and controlled studies reporting clinical outcomes in a total of 77,776 patients. Thirty eight thousand, nine hundred and ten patients received at least 6 months of treatment with animal-derived omega-3 fatty acids (DHA/EPA), concomitant with lipid lowering/statin therapy, whereas a control group of 38,866 patients received lipid lowering/statin therapy alone.
The study revealed that:
Omega-3 fatty acids in combination with lipid therapy had no effect on total mortality and myocardial infarction [heart attack], with only a marginal reduction in cardiovascular mortality, with a 7% reduction in relative risk [.93; 95% CI, 0.73-1.02]
Lower control group statin use and higher DHA/EPA ratio was associated with higher reduction in total mortality.
The researchers concluded, “Statin use may mitigate, and higher DHA/EPA ratio is associated with, the beneficial effect of PUFA supplementation.”