Red blood cell polyunsaturated fatty acids and mortality in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study.
J Clin Lipidol. 2017 Jan - Feb;11(1):250-259.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2016.12.013. Epub 2017 Jan 12.
Men are also probably less likely to die if have high Omega-3 - no data yet
- Higher Omega-3 index (4 to 8 percent) associated with 30 percent less risk of coronary disease (10 studies) July 2017
- Omega-3 benefits to health – review April 2018
- I use Vectomega brand of Omega-3 – Admin of VitaminDWiki, May 2014
- Mortality has the following chart of mortaity and Vitamin D
Omega-3 appears to reduce death rate more than Vitamin D
click on image for details
Chart of the study data from Grassroots Health
Harris WS1, Luo J2, Pottala JV3, Espeland MA4, Margolis KL5, Manson JE 6, Wang L6, Brasky TM7, Robinson JG8.
- 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD, USA;
OmegaQuant Analytics, LLC, Sioux Falls, SD, USA. Electronic address: bill@omegaquant.com.
Note: OmegaQuant makes Omega-3 tests - 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
- 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
- 4 Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
- 5 HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- 6 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- 7 Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- 8 Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
BACKGROUND:
The prognostic value of circulating polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels is unclear.
OBJECTIVES:
To determine the associations between red blood cell (RBC) PUFA levels and risk for death.
METHODS:
This prospective cohort study included 6501 women aged 65 to 80 years who participated in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (enrolment began 1996). RBC PUFA levels were measured at baseline and expressed as a percent of total RBC PUFAs. PUFAs of primary interest were the n-3 PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and their sum (the Omega-3 Index). PUFAs of secondary interest included the 2 major n-6 PUFAs, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid, and the PUFA factor score (a calculated variable including 6 PUFAs that accounts for their intercorrelations). The primary outcome was total mortality through August 2014.
RESULTS:
After a median of 14.9 years of follow-up, 1851 women (28.5%) had died. RBC levels of EPA and DHA were higher in the survivors (P < .002 for each). In the fully adjusted models, the hazard ratios (99% confidence intervals) for mortality associated with a 1 standard deviation PUFA increase for total mortality were 0.92 (0.85, 0.98) for the Omega-3 Index, 0.89 (0.82, 0.96) for EPA, 0.93 (0.87, 1.0) for DHA, and 0.76 (0.64, 0.90) for the PUFA factor score. There were no significant associations of alpha-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid or linoleic acid with total mortality.
CONCLUSIONS:
Higher RBC levels of marine n-3 PUFAs were associated with reduced risk for all-cause mortality. These findings support the beneficial relationship between the Omega-3 Index and health outcomes.