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The benefit of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Hypercholesterolemia, Aging, Cognition, and Inflammation

                Conventional Western Medicine advocates prescribing statin drugs to reduce cholesterol. These drugs certainly are not for everyone. The side effects of these powerful drugs may be harmful and include: muscle pain, muscle loss, memory loss, liver failure, and fatigue.    People with mildly elevated cholesterol will benefit from alternative therapies, such as diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements.

 ·        Eat a modified Mediterranean diet using olive oil instead of other cooking oils. This diet is also high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and spices, high in fish and low in beef and pork.

·        Cardiovascular exercise is much more beneficial than weight-based training for improvement of blood vessel tone, heart rate, endurance, and HDL (good cholesterol) build-up.

·        Supplementation omega-3 fatty acids.

 Omega-3 fish oil decreases mortality risk as published in the April 2005 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The Swiss researchers reviewed over 10,000 clinical trials published between 1965 and 2003 and chose 97 for statistical evaluation. They included 275,000 subjects. The scientists compared mortality risk of diet , lipid lowering drugs categorized as statins, fibrates and resins, and nutritional supplement omega-3 fatty acids, commonly found in fish oils.

 While the fibrate class of drugs failed to influence overall mortality and mildly elevated non-cardiac mortality, and while the diet and resins appeared to provide insignificant benefits, statins and omega-3 fatty acids significantly lowered both overall and coronary heart disease mortality risk during the trial periods.

 The risk of overall mortality was reduced 13 percent by statins. You will find this statistic publicized by the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture statins. In the same 97 studies, mortality risk was reduced 23 percent by omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. Thus, Omega-3 fatty acids provided almost double the benefit of statins. When the risk of mortality from heart disease alone was analyzed, the use of statin drugs was found to lower mortality risk by 22 %; the use of omega-3 fatty acids lowered mortality risk by 32% (almost 50% more than statins).

 References:

Studer M, Briel M, Leimenstoll B, Glass T, Bucher H. Effect of Different Antilipidemic Agents and Diets on Mortality: A Systemic Review; Archives of Internal Medicine 2005 April 11; 165(7):725-30.

      New Research suggests an important role for omega-3 fatty acids in helping prevent Alzheimer’s and related forms of dementia. There are several postulates as to why this is the case. Firstly, cellular functioning is in many ways influenced by neuronal membrane fluidity, which is itself dependednt on the lipid composition of the membrane. Neuronal membranes tend to become more rigid during aging, a products of changes in the fatty acid composition; for example, higher cholesterol content makes membranes more rigid while higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as omega-3s, increase fluidity.        At the same time, Omega-3 fatty acids, essential fats in human nutrition, cannot be manufactured by the body, and thus must be consumed in the diet. Fish Oil is a direct, rich and preformed source of the two key biologically active omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

            A recent large randomized study confirmed that individuals with greater dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids appear to have a lower risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. The researchers in this study investigated 815 Alzheimer’s-free Caucasian and African American men and women, aged 65 to 94 years. After an average follow-up of 3.9 years, the study demonstrated that total omega-3 fatty acid intake, as well as DHA levels, were significantly associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Dementia. Interestingly, alpha-linolenic acid, the plant-derived omega-3 fatty acid (ALA), commonly found in flax seed, did not show significant protection from the disease.     There is an interesting nutrigenomic explanation for the benefits of fish oil on cognition. Perhaps, fish oil induces the transcription of the gene for prealbumin, which sequesters amyloid beta-polypeptide, thereby preventing it from forming the characteristic amyloid plaques of the Alzheimer’s.

              Other benefits of the fish oils for the brain may derive from their anti-inflammatory properties. The Omega-3s are well known to decrease the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in himans. This may help to modulate the neuronal anti-inflammatory responses and neurotransmitter functioning. Many of the cytokines and prostaglandins that have been identified in brain tissue from diseased dementia patients, are known to promote and sustain inflammatory responses.

 References:

Morris MC, Evans DA, Biemas JL, et al. Consumption of fish and n-3 fatty acids and risk of incident Alzheimer’s Disease. Archives of Neurology 2003;60:940-946. Heude B, Ducimetiere P, Berr C. Cognitive decline and fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes: the EVA Study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2003;77:803-808.