Cardiovascular Benefits of Fish Oil Canceled by High-Fat Diet

Study highlights: • In an animal study of heart failure, fish oil supplementation was helpful to animals on a low-fat diet, but not to those on a high-fat diet.• Researchers think that a high-fat diet may block the heart cells’ ability to absorb the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil. Fish oil (EPA & DHA [eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid]) supplementation helped the heart when paired with a low-fat diet, but not when added to a high...

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Garlic and Cholesterol

From “Garlic for LDL Cholesterol,” National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, www.nccam.nih.gov), part of the National Institutes of Health, 2007.  LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is widely known as “bad cholesterol” and is believed to be a leading contributor to heart dis-ease. This 2007 study’s results cast doubt on garlic’s effectiveness in lowering LDL cholesterol levels in adults with moderately high cholesterol. Dr....

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Vitamin D and Heart Disease

“Lack of vitamin D may increase heart disease risk,” reprinted with permission. © 2009 American Heart Association, Inc. (www.americanheart.org).  The same vitamin D deficiency that can result in weak bones now has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Framing ham Heart Study researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association [2008].“Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular...

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Vitamin E 70.5

Excerpted from “Vitamin E Fact Sheet,” by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS, ods.od.nih.gov), part of the National Institutes of Health, May 4, 2009.  Vitamin E is found naturally in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. Vitamin E is the collective name for a group of fat-soluble compounds with distinctive antioxidant activities. Antioxidants protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals, which are...

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