William Penn Life, 2008 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2008-08-01 / 8. szám
Fatty fish favors your heart Study shows that a traditional Japenese diet rich in fish may hold the secret to a healthy heart ____________________[HealthPageJ____________________ If you're fishing for ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, you might start with the seafood-rich diet typically served up in Japan. According to new research, a lifetime of eating tuna, sardines, salmon and other fish appears to protect Japanese men against clogged arteries, despite other cardiovascular risk factors. The research, published in the Aug. 5,2008, issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology QACC), suggests that the protection comes from omega-3 fatty acids found in abundance in oily fish. In the first international study of its kind, researchers found that compared to middle-aged white men or Japanese- American men living in the United States, Japanese men living in Japan had twice the blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids—a finding that was independently linked to low levels of atherosclerosis. "The death rate from coronary heart disease in Japan has always been puzzlingly low," said Akira Sekikawa, M.D., Ph.D, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and an adjunct associate professor at Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan. "Our study suggests that the very low rates of coronary heart disease among Japanese living in Japan may be due to their lifelong high consumption of fish." Japanese people eat about 3 ounces of fish daily, on average, while typical Americans eat fish perhaps twice a week. Nutritional studies show that the intake of omega-3 fatty acids from fish averages 1.3 grams per day in Japan, as compared to 0.2 grams per day in the United States. Earlier studies by Dr. Sekikawa's team showed that Japanese men had significantly less cholesterol build-up in their arteries when compared to white men living in the United States — despite similar blood cholesterol and blood pressure readings, similar rates of diabetes and much higher rates of cigarette smoking. It was unclear, however, whether Japanese men were protected by strong genes, a high-fish diet or some other factor. To answer that question, the ERA JUMP (Electron-Beam Tomography, Risk Factor Assessment Among Japanese and U.S. Men in the Post-World War II Birth Cohort) Study enrolled 868 randomly selected men aged 40 to 49. Of these, 281 were Japanese men from Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan; 306 were white men from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; and 281 were third- or fourthgeneration Japanese-American men from Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Sekikawa and his colleagues found that the total level of fatty acids was similar in the three groups, but the percentage represented by fishbased omega-3 fatty acids was twofold higher in Japanese men living in Japan (9.2 percent) when compared to Health Links For more information about this study, the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and other information related to keeping your heart healthy, log onto the CardioSmart website of the American College of Cardiology at: O www.cardiosmait.org white men (3.9 percent) and Japanese- American men (4.8 percent) living in the United States. The researchers also found that levels of atherosclerosis were similar in Japanese-American and white men, but markedly lower in Japanese men living in Japan. "Our study clearly demonstrated that whites and Japanese-Americans have similar levels of atherosclerosis, which are much higher than in the Japanese in Japan," Dr. Sekikawa said. "This indicates that much lower death rates from coronary heart disease in the Japanese in Japan is very unlikely due to genetic factors." According to William S. Harris, Ph.D., senior scientist and director of the Metabolism and Nutrition Research Center, Sanford Research/University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, "the take home message from this important study is this: Traditional risk factors lead to traditional amounts of arteryclogging plaque but only when the background diet, perhaps the lifetime diet, is chronically deficient in omega- 3 fatty acids. Increase the omega-3 intake and heart disease rates in the West should begin to move closer to those in Japan. While it may take a high omega-3 diet from birth (as opposed to popping a few fish oil pills) to reach this goal, Dr. Sekikawa and his colleagues tell a compelling story that we would do well to heed." A follow-up study has recently been funded and will test the association of omega-3 fatty acids with the progression of atherosclerosis in white men, Japanese-American men, and Japanese men living in Japan, [m] 6 William Penn Life, August 2008
