OmegaMatters: Episode 2 - The Omega 3 Index & Heart Rate Recovery Paper

Описание: EPISODE #2: The Connection Between the Omega-3 Index & Heart Rate Recovery

HOSTS: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

GUESTS: Stephen Farrell, PhD, FACSM, Senior Investigator, The Cooper Institute


SHOW NOTES:

Omega-3 fatty acids have a long history of being “heart healthy” but exactly why and how has been less clear. They are known to lower serum triglyceride levels, but the effect is relatively small and it’s not clear how much of a risk factor high triglyceride levels is in the first place. So how do the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA work?

In the study discussed in this episode, the investigators utilized data from 13,912 healthy men and women who had preventive medical examinations at Cooper Clinic in Dallas over a 10-year period. These examinations routinely included both treadmill exercise testing and measurement of the Omega-3 Index (i.e., red blood cell EPA+DHA levels from OmegaQuant Analytics).

Initiated in 1970, the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study (CCLS) is the world’s largest and longest running observational study measuring cardiorespiratory fitness.

Since its landmark study in 1989 showing the association between being fit and lower mortality, research from the CCLS continues to evaluate the benefits of regular exercise, healthy lifestyle, and preventive healthcare; effectively proving again and again that exercise truly is medicine.

Those of us that are health conscious are well aware that poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a strong predictor of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. The gold standard for measuring CRF is a maximal treadmill exercise test performed in a clinical setting.

In recent years, heart rate recovery (HRR) from maximal exercise has also been identified as an important cardiovascular health measure. HRR is defined as the difference between maximal exercise heart rate and the heart rate at a given time point following exercise (or how quickly does your heart rate drop at a certain time after stopping exercise).

Most of us are also aware that omega-3 fatty acids, more commonly known as “fish oils,” are found in fatty fish as well as in supplement form, and have been shown to be beneficial to cardiovascular health. The Cooper Clinic measures omega-3 fatty acid levels in the blood using a method called the Omega-3 Index. The Omega-3 Index is a measure of what percentage of fatty acids in red blood cells are omega-3s.

There are 3 categories for the Omega-3 Index — low is less than 4%, normal is between 4-8%, and optimal is greater than 8%.

Comparing each patient’s heart rate recovery with their Omega-3 Index, the researchers found a significant relationship between these two variables such that the higher the Index, the faster the heart rate dropped down. The effect was more marked in women than men, but statistically significant in both.

Researchers also noted that many individuals in this study were involved in healthier habits, which may have also played a role in these results. But lead researcher, Dr. Stephen Farrell, believes these results signal a combination — that both being highly fit and having an optimal Omega-3 Index are keys to maintaining excellent health.

STUDY CITATION: Farrell, S.W., et al. Higher omega-3 index is associated with more rapid heart rate recovery in healthy men and women. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 163, 102206 (2020).

GUEST BIO:

Stephen William Farrell received his Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University in 1996 with a major emphasis in Exercise Physiology and a secondary emphasis in Nutrition. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees at the University of South Carolina (1983) and Springfield College (1978), respectively. His current position is Senior Investigator for the Division of Research at The Cooper Institute. He conducted hundreds of health/fitness workshops for all branches of the U.S. military, as well as federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies. His current research interests include the joint associations among cardiorespiratory fitness, different measures of adiposity, and various morbidity and mortality outcomes. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, and served as a consultant for the cardiovascular fitness component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).


About The Cooper Institute - cooperinstitute.org

About the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI) - www.fareinst.com

About OmegaQuant - www.omegaquant.com