Fish Oil and Heart Problems

Who wants to have heart health problems?

Heart problems are the number-one killer of American men and women, which is odd considering that heart problems were an uncommon cause of death at the beginning of the 20th century. While it's true that more people died of infectious diseases in those days and often didn't live long enough to die of , they also consumed much greater amounts of long-chain Omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil. As subsequent generations began eating less fish and more beef, their rate of heart problems shot up.

Hippocrates said that "whatever is good for the heart, is probably good for the mind." Let's reverse his insight a little to say "whatever is good for the mind is probably very good for the heart".

One of the best ways to live a longer and better life is to reduce your likelihood of developing heart problems. If we could eliminate heart problems tomorrow, the average life expectancy of every American would increase by an estimated 10 years. Advances in medical care have cut the death rate from heart problems, but it hasn't touched the incidence rates. We have heart problems more than ever, and as our population ages, more of us will suffer from this condition. We are simply not doing a good enough job of addressing the underlying cause of heart problems, decrease in blood flow to the heart and an increase in inflammation in the arteries. These both result from an increased production of "bad" eicosanoids

Protecting yourself against heart problems requires far more than just simply lowering your cholesterol levels. In fact, 50 percent of the people who are hospitalized with heart issues have normal cholesterol levels, and 25 percent of people who develop premature heart problems have no risk traditional factors at all. So maybe there is the possibility that elevated cholesterol isn't the real cause of problems in the first place.

The best predictors of future heart problems comes from prospective studies that follow healthy people for a number of years to determine which ones go on to develop heart problems and then to figure out why. Because these are expensive trials, there are very few of them. But those that exist have concluded that cholesterol levels are, in fact, a very poor predictor of future heart problems. In fact, the likelihood of future heart complications has everything to do with excess levels of "bad" eicosanoids.

Angina is the result of the death of the muscle cells in the heart from a lack of oxygen. This occurs when blood flow can't reach the heart because of a blockage or clot in the arteries caused by a clumping of blood platelets or because of inflammation, which causes an unstable plaque to break off and block the blood flow in the artery. Sometimes a spasm in the artery blocks flow to the heart, or the heart goes into electrical chaos and simply stops its synchronized beating on its own. None of these four heart problem causes have much to do with increased cholesterol levels, but they have everything to do with excess levels of "bad" eicosanoids. These are listed below.

Causes of Heart Problems

•Clot formation

•Plaque instability

•Vasospasm

•Electrical chaos (sudden death)

During the past several years, more and more research, especially from prospective studies, has shown that elevated insulin puts you at a greatly increased risk of heart problems. The reason why elevated insulin levels increase your risk of heart complications is because excess insulin causes your body to overproduce "bad" eicosanoids. This is why you need to combine both diet and Omega 3's for insulin control if your goal is promoting optimal heart health. Only this one-two dietary punch can maximally reduce the AA/EPA ratio, a marker for silent inflammation, and thus restrict the formation of "bad" eicosanoids.

"Bad" Eicosanoids = Bad Heart

It's important for you to understand the how and why behind heart problems and eicosanoid levels.

The link between high "bad" eicosanoid levels and heart issues stems from a variety of factors. First, excessive levels of "bad" eicosanoids increase the likelihood of platelets clumping to form a clot. (Platelets are circulating cells that rush to the site of a wound and clump together causing your blood to clot so you don't bleed to death.) Excessive levels of "bad" eicosanoids trick your platelets into thinking there's a wound in your arteries, so platelets clump in the wrong places causing decreased blood flow.

"Bad" eicosanoids are also the primary mediators of inflammation that increase the likelihood of causing an unstable arterial plaque to rupture. When such a plaque bursts, platelets see this as a wound and begin to aggregate in response to released debris. As a result, the new clots formed from aggregated platelets may completely plug up the artery, stopping blood flow. Once the blood supply is cut off, heart muscle cells die from lack of oxygen, and this causes the damage. The reason why aspirin is such a powerful weapon against heart attacks is that it reduces the production of "bad" eicosanoids, which cause both increased platelet clotting and increased inflammation that destabilize existing atherosclerotic plaques.

These very same "bad" eicosanoids are also the culprit behind vasospasm, the third cause of fatal heart attacks. "Bad" eicosanoids act as powerful constrictors of your arteries and can lead to a vasospasm, a potentially fatal cramp or "charley horse" that prevents blood flow to the heart. This same type of action occurs during a headache, which occurs as blood flow to the brain is constricted. If you have a headache, what drug do you take? Aspirin works by decreasing the production of "bad" eicosanoids and increasing blood flow.

As if all this weren't enough, too many "bad" eicosanoids can also lead to serious heart problems caused by chaotic electric rhythms in the heart. The heart is basically a very large muscle that must have all of the cells contracting and relaxing in a synchronized manner in order to pump blood effectively. What controls this cardiac symphony is the electrical current that spreads over the heart muscles to maintain the rhythm of the heart. If this electrical network is disturbed by too many "bad" eicosanoids, the muscle cells will start beating in an uncoordinated rhythm from each other. Pretty soon, the symphony becomes random noise and the heart stops beating, stopping blood flow. Animal studies have shown that regardless of your total cholesterol levels. The connection between this TG/HDL ratio was confirmed by studies from Harvard Medical School.

There are numerous benefits of fish oil and it is never to late to begin fish oil supplementation or eating uncontaminated fish on a regular basis. Start now to realize the benefit of fish oil and fish.

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