The focus in research on eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has shifted from intake to levels. One reason is that there is a standardized method for measuring levels (every human being has levels of EPA&DHA in red blood cells, an Omega-3 Index), another is that bioavailability of EPA&DHA is so complex that intake does not predict uptake. More importantly, clinical events like death, myocardial infarctions, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and many others correlate closely with levels, much less with intake, in epidemiologic studies and in intervention trials.
A low Omega-3 Index predicts total mortality, and the cardiovascular events mentioned. Moreover, increasing the Omega-3 Index reduced established cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure, certain blood lipids, and improved emerging risk factors like inflammatory cytokines or heart rate variability. Also, unstable coronary plaques were stabilized. In a high-dose intervention trial, Omega-3’s powerfully reduced the cardiovascular events mentioned, especially when data were evaluated from the perspective of levels, and much less, when data were evaluated traditionally, i.e. comparing verum to placebo. This puts neutral results of previous low-dose trials and pertinent meta-analyses into perspective.
Taken together, optimal levels of EPA&DHA, i.e. an Omega-3 Index in the target range of 8-11%, are an important steppingstone towards prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Over de spreker
Prof. dr. Clemens von Schacky invented, defined, and developed the Omega-3 Index with a collaborator from 2002 on. He is 64 years old, heads Preventive Cardiology of University of Munich, and his laboratory Omegametrix in Martinsried, both Germany.