Omega-3: no benefit if the diet is rich in saturated fat

Omega-3: no benefit
if the diet is rich in saturated fat

Consume many saturated fats could frustrate
the benefits of fats

The omega-3 are good, now there is a myriad of research to confirm this. It seems, however, that as an association consume a diet that spare no saturated fat, the positive effect can be completely lost. It is the hypothesis of an experimental research conducted so far only in rats, published in Hypertension.

RATTI -
The study, conducted by an international team of scientists assume that when the heart is "stressed out", as in the case of heart failure, diet rich in saturated fats can prevent heart cells to absorb fatty acids good polyunsaturated present in fish oil. Indeed, rats fed fish oil and a diet low in fat showed an increase in left ventricular mass (index of wholesale and poor cardiac function) of only 4 percent in those who eat fish oil and amount of saturated fat in the heart is' swollen 'by 36 percent. In addition, a diet low in saturated fat combined with omega-3 would activate some genes related to insufficient heart. "The current guidelines suggest limiting saturated fats to 7 percent of daily calories and to consume fish twice a week - say the authors -. Our data suggest that to maximize the beneficial effects of omega-3 patients to cardiovascular risk should involve a diet low in fat. " That, however, is not a suggestion so absurd.

DOUBTS - 'Everything has a rational basis - in fact, commented Claudio Galli of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at the University of Milan, who for years involved in lipid metabolism and fatty acid omega-3 -. But the data will be confirmed and deepened, meanwhile, because it is a study in animals, and secondly because I do not seem particularly convincing. The rats, from which the world is the world, have a diet that provides an average of 3 per cent of fat: the experiment came to 10 percent of total calories in food "low-fat", even at 60 percent in the diet high in fat. Enormous even for a human being, which during evolution has adapted to eating fat (people who consume a greater amount to reach 38 per cent), a blunder for a rat. The experimental conditions are somewhat 'forced and results can only be inspired to make further inquiries. " That will probe other aspects secondary: for example, the baseline levels of omega-3, because the impact on cardiovascular health of a higher consumption or supplementation is different if a person is poor or has enough. "Even saturated fats are not all equal: some data, for example, seem to indicate that the stearic acid is less" bad "of palmitic - added Galli -. The amount of data collected on omega-3 is now huge, but we must also specify that there is some impact on confidence, others are less sure. We know for example that have antiarrhythmic, anti-inflammatories, which decrease the pressure and reduce triglycerides, however, does not lower cholesterol. If anything makes it more "fluid" and therefore less easy to rupture and thrombus formation of atherosclerotic plaque, because they promote the formation of LDL particles to larger, less easily leading to the occurrence of atherosclerosis, "concluded Galli.