Omega3 Fish Oil reduces AF burden

[www.heartrhythmjournal.com]

article/S1547-5271(11)01369-5/abstract

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Article in Press
Long-term omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation reduces the recurrence of persistent atrial fibrillation after electrical cardioversion
Saurabh Kumar, BSc, (Med)/MBBS, Fiona Sutherland, RN, Joseph B. Morton, MBBS, PhD, Geoffrey Lee, MBChB, John Morgan, MBBS, James Wong, MBBS, PhD, David E. Eccleston, MBBS, MMed, John Voukelatos, MBBS, Manohar L. Garg, PhD, Paul B. Sparks, MBBS, PhD
published online 24 November 2011.
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Abstract Full Text PDF Images References Supplemental Materials
Background
Persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a high risk of recurrence after electrical cardioversion.

Objective
We examined if long-term supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oils commenced >1 month prior to electrical cardioversion and continued thereafter reduces the recurrence of persistent AF.

Methods
This was an open-label, randomized study of patients with documented persistent AF >1-month duration. Participants were assigned to control group or omega-3 group (6 g/d fish oil) and underwent cardioversion 1 month later. Concurrent antiarrhythmic use of sotalol or amiodarone was permitted. Fish oil was continued till return of persistent AF or a maximum of 1 year. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed for the primary end point defined as the recurrence of persistent AF.

Results
Mean duration of fish oil intake was 56 days precardioversion and a total of 242 days in follow-up. Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, the active components of fish oils, were 1.8-fold and 2.1-fold higher, respectively, in the omega-3 group compared with controls at the time of cardioversion (P <.001). At 90 days, 38.5% of the patients receiving omega-3 fatty acid supplement had AF recurrence compared with 77.5% of the controls (hazard ratio [omega-3 vs control] 0.38; 95% confidence interval 0.27−0.56; P <.001). Omega-3 intake was associated with a significant reduction in AF recurrence with or without concurrent antiarrhythmic drugs.

Conclusions
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation commenced >1 month prior to electrical cardioversion and continued thereafter reduces the recurrence of persistent AF. Randomized trials on long-term fish oil supplementation are needed to confirm these findings.

couple of months ago i began to take omega 3 fish oil supplements but i stopprd after some time because it raised the ectopics which gave me the feeling i might get afib. i have the intention to try it again in liquid form . I think some posters in this bb have similar experience.

ben

Given the random nature of AF, I think it would be difficult to attribute cause and effect of any arrhythmia to most foods and supplements. I think one way to tell is to try something for 3 months and self-monitor AF episodes and compare to a 3 month period with out the supplement. There was a Swedish participant in the forum that wrote a program for self monitoring while taking AAD but I can't recall his name.

Researcher,

The problem with that approach is, should an AF episode occur, you certainly don't want to continue ingesting something that may be a trigger for additional episodes. What I have done is retry the suspect supplement after a few months and then see what happens. I think it is imperative to stay on a very regimented diet which is known to be consistently afib free in order to be able to establish additional correlations.

I use fish oil supplements and find they do increase ectopics IF I take them first thing in the morning. If I take them at noon and evening, I have virtually no AM heartbeat problems - my guess is something to do with fish oil interacts with or adds to the effects of elevated sympathetic secretions in my case.
Tom

researcher. tom b ,
yesterday i took around 40 grams of fat canned tuna ( rich in omega 3) in the morning . 3 hours later i experienced ectopics which turned to short period of af. i took immediately pip flec + betablocker+ potassium + mag with good result. now i am in nsr. this happened to me couple of monthes ago after eating canned fat sardines.. is it the salt? i dont think because i eat sometimes salty nuts without any priblems.

ben

If I take in more than about 400 mg of salt at one time, it can induce afib, so I don't do that anymore. I've never afib'd from eating non-canned fish of any kind (I do eat canned sardines in unsalted water). In my case, reducing salt (sodium) to about 1000 mg/day has meant salt is no longer a problem - be sure and increase your potassium to sodium ratio to 4:1 or so for best results.

Ben - definitely could be the salt content in the canned tuna or sardines...especially if you are marginal in potassium.
Check the labels on anything canned or processed before you eat to know the sodium content. Better to avoid canned foods in the first place. You should eat nuts raw and plain... no salt. Processing them negates their benefit.

The other consideration with tuna is the mercury content. Again, if you have stored mercury in tissue... and most of us do, then adding more could easily be a trigger as mercury is cumulative and you don't get rid of it without chelation heroics.

However, now the push is on about the damaging effects from all canned foods because of the coating inside the cans which contains BPA.

Fresh, whole foods, raw or lightly steamed is the way to go.

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Jackie