Omega-3 fatty acids, which include both EPA and DHA, are linked to significant reductions of the risk of heart failure, according to a newly-published review appearing in the journal Nutrients.
 
Relying upon clinical trials, in vitro, and in vivo studies published since 2015, the authors of the study characterize the protective effects of omega-3 fatty acids as multifaceted, by acting upon several inflammatory markers and cardiovascular functions such as flow-mediated dilation, blood pressure, and more. Based on several large-scale trials and meta-analyses covered in the review, the authors of the study report that there is sufficient evidence to conlcude that omega-3 fatty acids can reduce cardiac remodeling, which is defined as a group of changes that alter the size, mass, geometry, and function of the heart after injury, as well as cardiac fibrosis, a scarring event within the heart most commonly caused by heart disease, aortic stenosis, and hypertension. Remodeling and fibrosis are the two primary diagnosis factors of heart failure.
 
Based on the most recent studies highlighted in the review, which encompass the health outcomes of hundreds of thousands of patients with or without HF at baseline, both the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology define dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids as an effective therapy for reducing the risk of hospitalization in heart failure patients.
 
In studies which have established a dose-dependent relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and heart failure, several beneficial links have been established, including to left ventricular ejection fraction, inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein, plasma brain natriuretic peptide, creatine, and serum norepinephrine levels in heart failure patients. Other large and small-scale studies the review covered the direct relationship between omega-3s and primary heart failure prevention with and without reduced ejection fraction, the authors of the review report. Also important to the primary prevention, according to other studies, is the ratio of EPA to arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid.
 
Several large-scale studies, which enrolled a pool of participants amounting to several thousand, found that omega-3 fatty acids can have a preventive role in heart failure even in patients who have suffered acute myocardial infarction, further indicating that a positive nutritional change could significantly reduce heart failure risk even in most-vulnerable populations.
 
“Around the world, there are numerous cases of hospitalization linked to heart failure; for this reason there are many studies aimed at finding an effective therapy, especially a non-pharmacological preventive therapy,” the authors of the study concluded. “It is clear that a diet with a more controlled PUFA intake can contribute to the improvement of inflammatory status, endothelial function, ventricular systolic and diastolic performance, inhibition of cardiac fibrosis, and remodeling in order to reduce hospitalization and death due to heart failure, including following [myocardial infarction]. Studies on the use of PUFAs in HF need further confirmation and investigation, but current knowledge is already sufficiently favorable.”