Can fish oil keep you young?
Just
when you thought it couldn't get any better, another compelling reason
for knowing your
Omega-3 Blood Index
and optimizing your fish oil dose has been uncovered.
A new study among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) has
discovered an association between fish oil and the rate at which
telomeres shorten (January 20, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association). Telomeres are the stretches of DNA that are thought
to be the body’s way of keeping track of aging: The older you are, the
more your telomeres are shortened.
The rate of telomere shortening is thought to determine the number of
times a cell can replicate, thus limiting the life of a cell. This
shortening of telomeres has been shown to independently predict
morbidity and mortality in patients with CAD.
According to lead researcher in the study, Dr. Farzaneh-Far, "This
suggests the existence of a novel mechanism for why omega-3 fatty acids
are effective in this patient population—an area that has not been well
worked out previously; it suggests they could be acting through
telomeres . . . It's also the first study that shows that a dietary
factor may be able to slow down telomere shortening . . . This is yet
another reason for cardiologists to try to convince their patients to
take either a fish-oil supplement or eat regular fatty-fish meals."
The bottom line of this observational study is that participants with
the lowest levels of omega-3 fatty acids had the fastest rate of
telomere shortening. Compared with those with the highest omega-3 blood
levels, participants with the lowest omega-3 blood levels had 60%
greater telomere shortening. To perform this analysis, Dr. Farzaneh-Far
and his team used what they called "a relatively new blood test" called
the
Omega-3 Index test.
The test cut-offs were 2.3% for those with the fastest (worst) telomere
shortening and 7.3% for the slowest (best) shortening.
Dr. Davis and Track Your Plaque are once again ahead of the curve in
bringing the Omega-3 Index test to its Members for some months now.
Track Your Plaque also provided a discussion on Omega-3 Index testing in
its
October 2009 newsletter. What was the blood level discussed? 7.3%
and higher!
Now for the REAL bottom-line: Just like Vitamin D, it doesn't matter how
much you take, it matters how much omega-3 fatty acids get into your
blood. With vitamin D, for instance, some people need 1000 units per
day, others need 20,000 units per day, most need something in between.
So it goes with omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, you may not even know, in
many cases, whether the preparation you take even contains the stated
quantity. Unless you test your blood level, you have no idea if you are
receiving optimal treatment.
Dr. Farzaneh-Far concludes: "From the telomere point of view, this is
the first study to show an effect of a dietary factor, that this may be
able to slow down telomere shortening . . . The idea is that the omega-3
index, the percentage of [omega-3] fatty acids in the blood, could be
measured and that low levels would predict worse outcomes. So the
omega-3 index might be useful for risk stratification in the future."
Call your doctor, get the test. If your doctor says, "No!" then
test
yourself to get a baseline reading and decide whether it might be a good
idea to get OPTIMAL treatment.
What's hot on the TYP website?
Track Your Plaque Members can rightly boast of the highest "Heart
IQ" as the most well-educated and experienced practitioners of heart
disease prevention and reversal. Here is a list of last month's
Top Ten Topics - new resources and Member Forum topics that Track
Your Plaque Members found the most interesting and useful in their
personal programs to prevent and reverse heart disease. Find out
what you may have been missing!
Postprandial Lipoproteins--The Storm After the Quiet: This new TYP
Special report introduced opened the shutters revealing a raging storm
in your body!
Postprandial Lipoproteins: Part 2 - The triglyceride tolerance test:
Part 2 of this series introduced a proprietary TYP method to test your
post-prandial triglyceride risk.
Discussion: Postprandial Lipoproteins--The Storm After the Quiet:
And, of course, the new report led to lengthy discussion in the Member
Forum.
TYP Health Eating: Our newest forum moderated by
nutritionist and dietitian, Margaret Pfeiffer, MS, RD, CLS. Margaret has
15 years of experience counseling patients on heart disease prevention
and is as a practicing Cardiac Nutritionist and Clinical Lipid
Specialist.
Ongoing Blood Sugar Experiment - Some Results: TYP Member
"Adventure9" takes us all on an adventure sharing detailed personal
analysis of blood sugar effects of different foods.
Tracking Plaque....What can we really learn about plaque: TYP Member
"jegesq" ignites a lively and informative discussion on heart scans,
their meaning, and their use.
Saturated Fat Not Linked to Heart Disease: TYP Member "gobears"
shares a new study on saturated fat that may change the way you think
about eating.
Low-carb: Postprandial responses: Many people replace carbs with
fats on low-carb diets. The Members discuss how fats should be
incorporated and what limits to use.
Can these numbers be reversed without statins?: Few people WANT to
take statins. But, can the tough cases be solved without them?
If you do need it, how much and what kind of statin should you take?:
In an in depth follow-up TYP Members reveal their research and
experiences using statins to lower LDL and what works.
Copyright 2010 Track Your Plaque, LLC