Omega 3 and Reduced Risk of Myocardial Infarction

Written by Greg Post


Myocardial infarction is a technical term used to describe an irreversible injury to heart muscle. It is normally used as a synonym for a heart attack and will be so used in this essay. Myocardial infarction is normally related to progressive atherosclerosis (blockage ofrepparttar arteries.) Essentiallyrepparttar 114135 heart is slowly starved of oxygen and stops functioning properly causing irreparable damage and even death.

It is no surprise that much ofrepparttar 114136 developed world suffers from heart disease because of diet and other lifestyle habits. Inrepparttar 114137 United States heart disease remainsrepparttar 114138 number one killer among adults and demonstrates similar statistics in many other modern countries. The surprise comes in knowing thatrepparttar 114139 majority of heart disease is avoidable yet educated people continue to ignorerepparttar 114140 dangers and promote lifestyles conducive to cardiac damage. Though many factors contribute to heart diseaserepparttar 114141 current essay will focus on one, in two parts. First we will considerrepparttar 114142 relation of fish consumption and myocardial infarction. Secondly we will considerrepparttar 114143 effects of dietary supplementation with omega-3 and vitamin E for those who had previously survived a heart attack.

Fish consumption and heart disease has been a topic of innumerable studies. One research project combined data taken from several such studies includingrepparttar 114144 Chicago Western Electric Study,repparttar 114145 Zutphen, Rotterdam and Swedish studies andrepparttar 114146 Study of U.S. Physicians among others. The goal of this research was to examinerepparttar 114147 relationship between fish consumption andrepparttar 114148 30-year risk of death from coronary disease.

The participants ofrepparttar 114149 study included 1,822 men betweenrepparttar 114150 ages of forty and fifty-five who were free of cardiovascular disease. Forrepparttar 114151 first ten years annual examinations were given and mailed questionnaires and/or telephone interviews were used forrepparttar 114152 next fifteen years. Death certificates were used to classify cause of death for each patient.

Duringrepparttar 114153 30-years follow up there were a total of 430 deaths from cardiovascular disease with 293 due to myocardial infarctions. Ofrepparttar 114154 latter 196 were sudden, 94 were non-sudden andrepparttar 114155 remaining three could not be classified as either. Almost all ofrepparttar 114156 sudden deaths were caused by myocardial infarction.

Detailed dietary history was kept on each participant with daily fish consumption asrepparttar 114157 primary focus. Each participant was categorized into one of four groups. The first group reportedly consumed no fish. The second group consumed between one and seventeen grams of fish per day. The third and fourth groups measured consumption as eighteen to thirty-four grams per day and greater than thirty-four grams per day respectively.

Predictablyrepparttar 114158 results demonstrated an inverse relationship between fish consumption andrepparttar 114159 occurrence of myocardial infarction. In particularrepparttar 114160 participants who ate at least 35 grams of fish per day had a 42% lower death rate from heart attack compared to those who ate no fish at all.

The History And Usefulness Of Coenzyme Q10

Written by Greg Post


Throughout my childhood I was aware ofrepparttar importance of eating well and taking my vitamins. Butrepparttar 114134 science of dietary supplements has come a long way since those days. And one ofrepparttar 114135 stars in this scientific progression is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). CoQ10 is not a drug. It is a vitamin-like substance that is found in small amounts in a variety of foods and is synthesized within our body tissues.

Enzymes are compounds inrepparttar 114136 body that are absolutely essential forrepparttar 114137 many processes necessary to keep us alive and our bodies functioning properly. Mitochondrial enzymes are those particular enzymes that are essential forrepparttar 114138 production ofrepparttar 114139 high-energy phosphate ATP (adenosine triphosphate) upon which all cellular function depends. Without it our bodies shut down atrepparttar 114140 cellular level. Coenzyme Q10 isrepparttar 114141 cofactor upon which at least three mitochondrial enzymes depend. By logical inference then ATP functioning depends upon CoQ10. In short, all human cellular function depends on ATP. And ATP function depends on CoQ10.

As was already said,repparttar 114142 production of CoQ10 occurs within our body tissues. Its biosynthesis fromrepparttar 114143 amino acid tyrosine is a complex multistage process requiring several vitamins and trace elements. Under normal conditions we produce all we need while we are young. But there are many factors that can contribute to CoQ10 deficiency. Among these are aging, disease, dietary deficiency, use of statin drugs and increasing tissue demands. Before we get to CoQ10 deficiencies, however, it is well to look atrepparttar 114144 history of CoQ10 research.

History

CoQ10 was first isolated by Dr. Frederick Crane in 1957 fromrepparttar 114145 mitochondria of beef heart. During that same year Professor Morton, from Britain, also discovered CoQ10 inrepparttar 114146 livers of vitamin A deficient rats. Duringrepparttar 114147 following year researchers at Merck, Inc. determined its chemical structure and becamerepparttar 114148 first to produce it.

It was neitherrepparttar 114149 British norrepparttar 114150 Americans that first found a practical use forrepparttar 114151 CoQ compounds. Professor Yamamura from Japan first used a related compound (CoQ7) inrepparttar 114152 treatment of congestive heart failure. Other practical uses then followed. CoQ6 was used as an effective antioxidant inrepparttar 114153 mid 1960s. In 1972 (in Italy) deficiency of CoQ10 was linked to heart disease. The Japanese, however, wererepparttar 114154 first to perfectrepparttar 114155 technology necessary to produce CoQ10 in sizeable enough quantities to make large clinical trials a reality.

After Peter Mitchell wonrepparttar 114156 Nobel Prize in 1978 for definingrepparttar 114157 biological energy transfer that occurs atrepparttar 114158 cellular level (for which CoQ10 is essential) there was a considerable increase inrepparttar 114159 number of clinical studies performed in relation to CoQ10 usefulness. This was due in part torepparttar 114160 large amounts of pharmaceutical grade CoQ10 that was now available from Japan andrepparttar 114161 ability to measure CoQ10 in blood and body tissues. CoQ10 since has become known for its importance as a powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger and as a treatment in many chronic illnesses, especially heart disease.

Coenzyme Q10 Deficiency

The usefulness of CoQ10 as a medical treatment has largely been approached fromrepparttar 114162 perspective that when a chronic disease is present (especially inrepparttar 114163 case of heart disease) CoQ10 is often grossly deficient. For example, a person suffering from congestive heart failure often demonstrates extreme CoQ10 deficiency. Normal blood and tissue levels of CoQ10 have been well established. Significantly low levels of CoQ10 have been linked to a vast variety of diseases in both animal and human studies.

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