Low Levels of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Are Associated with Increased Risk of Atherosclerosis

Cardiovascular disease refers to heart diseases, affecting millions of people in the world.
According to statistics, over 17.7 million people died from CVDs in 2015.

The World Heart Foundation, in the investigation of CVD, suggested that CVD risk factors can be classified by
* Non-Modified risk factors such as age, ethnic background,....... and family history. The risk that can not be controlled
* Modified risk factors such as smoking, high blood cholesterol, and pressure, diabetes physical inactivity,.... and overweight. These types of risks can be controlled through a change in lifestyle and diet.

Most cases of heart disease in the Western world are associated with atherosclerosis.

In other words, atherosclerosis is a leading cause of coronary heart disease (CHD).

According to the 2016 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, 15.5 million people in the USA. have CHD. The lifetime risk of developing CHD with ≥2 major risk factors is 37.5% for men and 18.3% for women.


Atherosclerosis is a medical condition caused by plaques accumulated on the wall of the arteries, leading to narrowing the arteries in transporting oxygenated blood to the heart and other parts of the body.

Depending on the blood obstruction, atherosclerosis can induce different types of heart disease and stroke.

Plaque is made of cholesterols, calcium, and other toxic substances, including cadmium.

According to the statistics provided by Atherosclerosis Open Acess, 32% of deaths account for atherosclerosis. 13.8% prevalence is among adults of 20 years and above. In 2010, the coronary heart disease mortality rate was about 60%.

Risk factors of atherosclerosis include high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, being overweight or obese, an unhealthy diet, a family history of heart disease, and physical inactivity, particularly smoking.

Some researchers suggested that since cholesterol makes up a big part of the plaque, an unhealthy diet with high saturated trans fat, red meat, and processed meat may be the major cause of atherosclerosis.

In other words, the Western diet is one of the major culprits that cause the majority of cases of atherosclerosis.


Omega-3 fatty acids are phytochemicals in the class of lipids, found abundantly in deepsea fisk, dark-green leafy vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, etc.

The three main components of Omega-3 fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

On finding a potential phytochemical for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, researchers examined the effects of EPA and DHA on the early-onset of coronary atherosclerosis.

According to the results of 71 participant groups included 51 were below and 20 were above the 75th AS-percentile.
* A significantly lower value for EPA (0.77%[0.63; 0.97] vs. 0.93%[0.72; 1.21]; p = 0.045), DHA (4.90%[4.12; 5.57] vs. 5.50%[4.58; 6.52]; p = 0.038) and the Omega-3 Index (5.73%[4.75; 6.35] vs. 6.22%[5.46; 7.71]; p = 0.034) were seen in patients above the 75th AS-percentile was found to associated with the onset of coronary atherosclerosis.

* All other fatty acids showed no significant differences.

* In multivariable analysis, the Omega-3 Index showed a significant inverse association with early onset of CAC (OR: 0.533 (95%CI: 0.303-0.938; p = 0.029)), independent of age, gender, statin use, and creatinine level (all p > 0.05).

Collectively, researchers said, "Low levels of EPA and DHA (Omega-3 Index) are associated with early-onset coronary atherosclerosis. This finding needs to be validated in larger cohorts and might help understand the beneficial cardiovascular effects of omega-3 fatty acids".


Taken altogether, Omega-3 fatty acids found abundantly in fish oil and plant oil may be considered a functional food for the prevention of atherosclerosis, pending the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Early-onset coronary atherosclerosis in patients with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids by Bittner DO1, Goeller M2, Zopf Y3, Achenbach S2, Marwan M. (PubMed)
(2) The Impact of Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Atherosclerosis and Arterial Stiffness: An Overview of their Actions by Verveniotis A1, Siasos G1,2, Oikonomou E1, Tsigkou V1, Papageorgiou N1, Zaromitidou M1,2, Psaltopoulou T1, Marinos G1, Deftereos S1, Vavuranakis M1, Stefanadis C3, Papavassiliou AG4, Tousoulis D. (PubMed)