Analysis predicts purified fish oil could prevent thousands of cardiovascular events
March 25, 2020
Science Daily/University of California - Irvine
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have conducted a statistical analysis that predicts more than 70,000 heart attacks, strokes and other adverse cardiovascular events could be prevented each year in the U.S. through the use of a highly purified fish oil therapy.
Led by Nathan D. Wong, PhD, professor and director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program in the Division of Cardiology at the UCI School of Medicine, the abstract of the statistical analysis was accepted by the American College of Cardiology and is slated to be presented at the upcoming ACC.20/World Congress of Cardiology virtual conference taking place March 28-30. The analysis utilizes data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and inclusion criteria from a multinational clinical trial led by investigators from Harvard University called REDUCE-IT, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in January of 2019.
The REDUCE-IT trial showed patients with known cardiovascular disease or diabetes and multiple risk factors who have elevated triglyceride levels and are at increased risk for ischemic events benefitted substantially from icosapent ethyl, a highly purified fish oil therapy, which lowered cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, by 25 percent. Positive results were not found in other trials, possibly due to mixtures with other omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA, or inadequate dosages according to Wong.
"Our analysis extends the findings of the REDUCE-IT trial by estimating its potential impact on the U.S. population," said Wong. "By using inclusion criteria and cardiovascular disease event rates from the REDUCE-IT trial and applying it to data on US adults from NHANES, we were able to estimate the beneficial impact icosapent ethyl could have on preventing initial and total cardiovascular events in eligible U.S. adults with cardiovascular disease or diabetes and multiple risk factors."
Wong's analysis is the first to project the findings of REDUCE-IT to the overall U.S. population.
"When you consider that for every 21 patients treated with icosapent ethyl you can spare a cardiovascular event, you begin to see the implications of our results," said Wong.
Icosapent ethyl is a purified stable eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) which was recently approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in conjunction with maximally tolerated statin therapy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in certain adults with elevated triglyceride levels. The only drug of its kind to show such an effect, icosapent ethyl, is currently marketed under the name Vascepa® by Amarin Pharma. The EPA therapy has also gained the support of several major societies, which have incorporated it in various guidelines, scientific statements and advisories, including the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, National Lipid Association, and the European Society of Cardiology/European Atherosclerosis Society.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200325131536.htm
Omega fish oils don’t improve school children’s reading skills or memory
March 1, 2018
Science Daily/University of Birmingham
New research has found no evidence Omega-3 fish oil supplements help aid or improve the reading ability or memory function of underperforming schoolchildren.
In the second high-quality trial of its kind, published in PLOS ONE, the researchers found an entirely different result to an earlier study carried out in 2012, where omega-3 supplements were found to have a beneficial effect on the reading ability and working memory of school children with learning needs such as ADHD.
In this second study, the researchers tested children who were in the bottom quarter of ability in reading, and found that fish oil supplements did not have any or very little effect on the children's reading ability or working memory and behaviours.
The team from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford tested 376 children aged 7-9 years old, learning to read, but in the bottom quarter in terms of their ability.
Half of the children took a daily Omega-3 fish oil supplement and the remaining children took a placebo for 16 weeks.
Their reading and working memories were tested before and after by their parents at home and teachers in school -- with no real differences found in the outcomes.
Professor Paul Montgomery, University of Birmingham, who led the research said: "We are all keen to help kids who are struggling at school and in these times of limited resources, my view is that funds should be spent on more promising interventions. The effects here, while good for a few kids, were not substantial for the many."
Dr Thees Spreckelsen, University of Oxford, Co-Author of the report added: "Fish oil or Omega-3 fatty acids are widely regarded as beneficial. However, the evidence on benefits for children's learning and behaviour is clearly not as strong as previously thought."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180301144543.htm