Health benefits of fish oil and vitamin D
LARGE STUDY REVEALS MIXED RESULTS
By now, you have probably heard of the recent study results about fish oil and vitamin D. Some positives and some negatives. Some headlines have stated that neither fish oil nor vitamin D was helpful in preventing anything. Other headlines have stated that they are helpful for preventing heart attacks and cancer deaths. Like most news headlines, both are true.
This study was called the VITAL trial and followed over 25,000 people for five years. People in this study received one gram of fish oils, 2000 international units of vitamin D, or placebo. Researcher were following the rates of heart disease, stroke, heart attack and cancer in these subjects. It was one of the largest studies to date to follow the health benefits of fish oils (omega 3 fatty acids) and vitamin D on human health. The results were mixed. First the bad news. Neither vitamin D, nor fish oils, reduced the risk of having a stroke or other form of heart disease. These supplements also did not reduce the risk of developing cancer. At first, this seems like bad news — one of the main reasons why people take fish oils is to reduce their risk of heart disease. Vitamin D is the wonder supplement that is thought to be good for everything, but now it does not help prevent cancer. Critics of the trial felt that five years was not long enough to prevent the long-term health conditions like heart disease or cancer. But there was some good news. People who took fish oils had a 28 per cent lower heart attack rate than those that took the placebo (dummy) pill. This rate jumped to 77 per cent if you were AfricanAmerican. The researchers are not quite sure why the jump was so high. Of interest to vegetarians and vegans — subjects that usually consumed less than one-and-a-half servings of fish per week — experienced a 40 per cent reduction in heart attack risk.
There was some good news for vitamin D. While it did not reduce the risk of developing cancer in the first place, it did reduce the risk of dying from cancer by 25 per cent. Researchers thought that vitamin D might affect the biology of the tumour, making it less likely to grow or spread.
So are fish oils and vitamin D just a waste of money, or should you start taking them to improve your health? You need to look at your diet and your family history to determine this.
If you regularly eat fish and heart disease does not run in your family, then fish oils might not be of benefit. However, if you don’t get a lot of omega 3 fats in your diet and heart disease is a concern, then taking extra might be a good idea.
As for vitamins D, you should still take at least 2000IU of vitamin D daily. We live in northern climate with little sunlight exposure during the winter. This vitamin is helpful for maintaining healthy bones and teeth, reduce the risk of developing diabetes, it helps with immunity, and the list goes on.
So take a look at your diet and lifestyle and see if taking extra vitamin D and fish oils are right for you.
BY IAN LLOYD, YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD HEART PHARMACIST