A recent study has now established that consumption of fish oil can counteract the effect of air pollution, known to have a disastrous effect on cardiac health. The results of the present study have valuable implications with the ever-increasing air pollution levels in our environment.
The study participants were required to consume a 2g fish oil supplement everyday for a period of 6 months. Those who consumed soy oil supplements formed the control group. At the end of the study, it was found that those who consumed soy oil had marginal, non-significant benefit while the heart rate was found to be stable in the experimental group.It is hypothesized that the presence of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oil could contribute to the observed therapeutic effect against arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death as a result of exposure to air pollution. The GISSI study has revealed that highly purified ethyl ester form of fish oil could reduce heart attack deaths by 45%.
Previous studies have already established the health benefits of fish oil supplementation. This is the first study to highlight the importance of fish oil supplements to protect against air pollution.
Following the promising findings, the researchers advocate the consumption of fish oil for a substantial improvement in general health. This is especially important, as there is a decline in the quality of the fish consumed over the recent years as a result of water contamination with mercury and PCBs.
