Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease: Are There Benefits?
Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine, November 2016, 18:69; DOI: 10.1007/s11936-016-0487-1
Kate J. BowenWilliam S. HarrisPenny M. Kris-Etherton
Study seems to ignore the CVD benefits of Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and Magnesium - some of which are in salmon and other fish
- Magnesium prevents cardiovascular events – Meta-analysis March 2013
- Major Heart attacks occur 40 percent more often if vitamin D lower than 7 ng – Feb 2013
- Cardiovascular system benefits from both Omega-3 and vitamin D – Dec 2012
- Chronic Heart Failure not treated by Vitamin D, if dose size is ignored – meta-analysis Oct 2015
- Chronic Heart Failure reduced by 4,000 IU daily for a year – RCT April 2016
- Salmon intervention (vitamin D and Omega-3) improved heart rate variability and reduced anxiety – Nov 2014
Study on this page shows the Omega-e, Vitamin K and Magnesium content of many fish - here is the salmon section
Items in both categories Omega-3 Cardiovascular are listed here:
- Omega-3 reduces many aspects of heart problems - Jan 2024
- Cardiovascular problems reduced by Omega-3 - many studies
- Cardiovascular problems are prevented by Vitamin D plus Omega-3 – Feb 2023
- Omega-3 decreases heart disease and COVID: Harris and Patrick, video and transcript - Dec 2021
- Atrial Fibrillation decreased by Vitamin D or Magnesium - many studies
- Omega-3 reduced cardiovascular deaths by 16 percent (427,678 people) – March 2020
- Synthetic EPA drug recommended to FDA for Cardio (Omega-3 is 8 X better) – Nov 2019
- Omega-3 reduces heart problems by ~5 percent – meta-analysis by Heart Association Oct 2019
- Cardiovascular Prevention with Omega-3 (finally using high doses) – Sept 2019
- Few people have enough EPA (an Omega-3) to reduce heart failures – July 2019
- Another Nail in the Coffin for Fish Oil Supplements (nope) – JAMA April 2018
- Omega-3 provides many cardiovascular benefits – April 2018
- Omega-3 helps the heart, AHA class II recommendation, more than 1 gm may be needed – March 2018
- 3 days of Omega-3 before cardiac surgery reduced risk of post-op bleeding by half – RCT March 2018
- Perhaps the Omega-3 optimal level is 10 percent, not 8 – Feb 2018
- Omega-3 Cardiovascular meta-analysis has at least 5 major problems – Jan 2018
- Benefits of Omega-3 beyond heart health - LEF Feb 2018
- Higher Omega-3 index (4 to 8 percent) associated with 30 percent less risk of coronary disease (10 studies) July 2017
- Cardiovascular problems reduced by low dose aspirin and perhaps Omega-3 (also Vit K) – Sept 2017
- Omega-3 reduced time in hospital and atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery – meta-analysis May 2016
- For every Omega-3 dollar there is a 84 dollar savings in Cardiovascular costs - Foster and Sullivan April 2016
- High dose Omega-3 probably reduces heart problems – American Heart Association – March 2017
- Health problems prevented by eating nuts (perhaps due to Magnesium and or Omega-3) – meta-analysis Dec 2016
- Omega-3 – need more than 1 gram for a short time to reduce Cardiovascular Disease – Nov 2016
- Omega-3 is vital for health, mail-in test is low cost and accurate
- Cardiovascular calcification prevented by Omega-3, Magnesium, Vitamin K, and Vitamin D – April 2015
- Atrial fibrillation sometimes treated by Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2015
- Salmon intervention (vitamin D and Omega-3) improved heart rate variability and reduced anxiety – Nov 2014
- Omega-7 - in addition to Omega-3
- Omega-3 reduces Coronary Heart Disease - infographic June 2014
- Cardiovascular diseases – conflicting data on benefits of Omega-3 and vitamin D – Feb 2014
- Cardiovascular system benefits from both Omega-3 and vitamin D – Dec 2012
- Heart problems such as Afib related to little Magnesium, Omega-3, Vitamin D getting to tissues
- Omega-3 does not help heart patients – meta-analysis Sept 2012
Pages listed in BOTH the categories Magnesium and Cardiovascular
- More Magnesium needed to decrease diabetes, cardio, HT (body weight has increased) - March 2021
- Nitric oxide increased by UVA, Vitamin D, Magnesium, etc,
- Atrial Fibrillation decreased by Vitamin D or Magnesium - many studies
- Signs of low Magnesium (heart problems in this case) – Jan 2018
- Ablation does not reduce atrial fibrillation (CABANA study) but Magnesium does – June 2018
- Cardiometaboic problems decreased with increased Vitamin D, unless low Magnesium – Aug 2017
- Heart problems in obese increase if deficient in BOTH Vitamin D and Magnesium – Aug 2017
- Health problems prevented by eating nuts (perhaps due to Magnesium and or Omega-3) – meta-analysis Dec 2016
- Cardiovascular calcification prevented by Omega-3, Magnesium, Vitamin K, and Vitamin D – April 2015
- More vitamin D makes for better health – dissertation based on Rotterdam studies – Oct 2015
- Atrial Fibrillation - remineralize your heart - Aug 2015
- Magnesium Suppresses Formation of Clogged Arteries - May 2014
- Off Topic: EDTA similar reduction in heart attack as Vitamin C, aspirin and Mg – RCT March 2013
- Death from Coronary Heart Disease related to low Magnesium intake – March 2013
- Magnesium prevents cardiovascular events – Meta-analysis March 2013
- Hypothesis: Decreasing Magnesium and increasing CaMg ratio are increasing health problems – 2012 - 2013
- Heart problems such as Afib related to little Magnesium, Omega-3, Vitamin D getting to tissues
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Opinion statement
Early secondary prevention trials of fish and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) capsules reported beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes, including all-cause mortality and sudden cardiac death. These clinical findings, as well as observational and experimental data, demonstrated that omega-3 PUFAs reduced the risk of coronary outcomes and overall mortality and were the basis for recommendations made in the early 2000s to increase omega-3 PUFA intake. In the last 6 years, however, results from both primary and secondary prevention trials have generally failed to show a beneficial effect of omega-3 PUFA supplementation, bringing current recommendations into question.
Several possible reasons for these null findings have been proposed,
- including short treatment periods,
- relatively low doses of omega-3 PUFAs,
- small sample sizes,
- higher background omega-3 intakes, and the
- concurrent use of modern pharmacotherapy for CVD prevention.
At least one of these caveats is being assessed in major clinical trials, with two omega-3 PUFA pharmacological agents being tested at doses of 4?g/day (instead of the more common <1 g/day). These null findings, however, do not necessarily mean that omega-3 PUFAs “are ineffective” in general, only that they were not effective in the context in which they were tested. Accordingly, higher intakes of omega-3 PUFAs, either from fatty fish or from supplements, if continued for decades (as the epidemiological data support) are likely to contribute towards lower risk for CVD. At this time, evidence supports the consumption of a healthy dietary pattern with at least two servings per week of fatty fish. Omega-3 PUFA supplementation is a reasonable alternative for those who do not consume fish, although fish is the preferred source of omega-3 PUFAs because it also provides additional nutrients, some of which are often under-consumed.