New research shows that people with a high Omega-3 Index are 13% less likely to die prematurely compared to those with low levels
A new research paper from the FORCE – Fatty Acids & Outcomes Research – Consortium has found that people with higher omega-3 EPA and DHA blood levels are less likely to die prematurely.
Meaning, people who died with low omega-3 levels might have lived longer had their levels been higher.
Risk of death
FORCE analysed a pool of data from 17 cohorts from around the world, including 42,466 people who were followed for 16 years on average. During this time 15,720 people died.
When the research team examined the risk for death, the people who had the highest EPA+DHA levels had a 13% lower risk than people with EPA+DHA levels in the 10th percentile.
The range between the 10th and 90th percentile for EPA+DHA was around 3.5% to 7.6%.
“Since all of these analyses were statistically adjusted for multiple personal and medical factors (i.e., age, sex, weight, smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, etc., plus blood omega-6 fatty acid levels), we believe that these are the strongest data published to date supporting the view that over the long-term, having higher blood omega-3 levels can help maintain better overall health,” said Dr. Bill Harris, Founder of the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI), and lead author on this paper.
“This comprehensive look at observational studies of circulating omega-3 fatty acids indicates that the long chain omega-3s EPA, DPA, and DHA, usually obtained from seafood, are strongly associated with all-cause mortality, while levels of the plant omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) are less so,” said Tom Brenna, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Human Nutrition, and Chemistry, Dell Medical School of the University of Texas at Austin.
The full study has been published in Nature Communications.
