The daily taking of a simple 1000mg fish oil capsule could save the lives of 10,000 heart failure sufferers every year, research has shown. The study found that people with heart failure, where the organ fails to beat with sufficient force, were less likely to die if they took fish oils.
Around 700,000 people in Britain suffer from the condition that has debilitating symptoms, including breathlessness and fatigue, that can be so severe patients may remain virtually housebound, and around one third die within a year of being diagnosed.
Prof Martin Cowie, of Imperial College London and the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, reviewed the study of almost 7,000 people. After two years there was a nine percent reduction in deaths amongst those taking the capsules, as well as a significant reduction in hospital admissions. This has also lead to the speculation that using the capsules as a preventative measure could have a significant reduction in cases occurring.
Prof Cowie said, “if two thirds of heart failure patients took the capsules daily, it would mean around 10,000 lives a year would be saved.”
The review, published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, said cost-effectiveness studies were under way and are likely to show that prescribing fish oil to patients would pass evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
It is thought the fish oils help regulate heart rate and have an anti-inflammatory action which may help to relax blood vessels to ease the workload on the heart.
Dr Jeremy Pearson, deputy medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Researchers have been trying to find something that fish oils really do so this is interesting. If people feel they can tolerate it, which most people do if they take capsules and not liquid, I don’t think there is any suggestion that they might be doing themselves any harm.”
Sources:
Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7976563/Daily-fish-oils-could-save-lives-of-10000-heart-patients.html
The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1308181/Fish-oil-save-10-000-lives-year-preventing-heart-failure-deaths.html
Calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron… how much does your body need and are you getting enough of each of them? Minerals are essential for digestion and to help your body absorb other nutrients!
There are 15 minerals that our bodies need, and all of them should be available from our food. When eaten those minerals become available to our body for use in building cells, cleaning blood, filtering impurities and many other essential uses. Unfortunately, in today’s world, depleted soils lead to low mineral content in the food we eat, including calcium and magnesium – two of the most well-known minerals our bodies need.
The minerals we need are divided into two groups – major/essential minerals and trace minerals.
Major minerals are those that your body requires in amounts of 250mg or more daily. These include: calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulphur and chloride.
Trace minerals are those that your body needs in far smaller amounts – less than 20mg, but are in no way any less important. These include: chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc.
Despite the relatively small amounts needed, a deficiency in any one of these essential minerals can cause difficulties in digestion and absorption of other nutrients and malformations in nearly every one of your body’s systems. At the same time, many of the trace minerals that your body needs in much smaller amounts can be toxic in large amounts. That’s why it’s vitally important you use a properly formulated and well-balanced supplement.
So when assessing your health and your nutritional needs, please don’t forget about minerals! They are equally as important as vitamins and in many cases one cannot work efficiently without the other. Supplements are a great way of insuring you top up on the nutrients you might miss out on in your diet.
Sources:
Nutritional Supplements Center: http://www.nutritionalsupplementscenter.com/info/minerals
The Optimum Nutrition Bible, Patrick Holford, Piatkus Books, 2009.
Hello,
Just a quick post to say a big thank you to you all for your custom, friendship and support!
I’ve been meaning to put this up for a little while now, but just keep running out of time!
Thanks to you guys we’ve been able this year to donate some money to Surfers Against Sewage through our 1% for the Planet membership. We also took the opportunity to match the donation with the equivalent in product for them to either distribute or use as prizes etc. for more fund raising.
Together we can help make the UK shoreline and surrounding waters clean and usable. 
So, thanks again.
Everyone @ Bio Nutrition
A new study funded by the World Cancer Research Fund has concluded that high levels of B vitamins in the blood could slash the risk of lung cancer. People with above average levels of vitamin B6 and the related nutrient methionine are half as likely to develop the disease. The study was carried out by a team of researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Lead researcher, Dr Paul Brennan, pointed out: “More research is needed to confirm that B vitamins actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. However, these results are significant because the reduction in risk was consistent among current smokers, former smokers and people who had never smoked”, whilst Dr Panagiota Mitrou, Science Programme Manager at the World Cancer Research Fund, described the results as exciting. He added: “But while this is an important study, it is vital that we get the message across to smokers that increasing B vitamins is not – and never will be – a substitute for stopping smoking. However, we should also recognise that a significant number of lung cancer cases occur among people who have never smoked or who have stopped smoking.”
Here at Bio Nutrition we’ve always recommended everyone takes a good multi vitamin and mineral, which include B vitamins, but if you need an extra boost a separate B Complex can always be added safely!
Sources:
Health Food Business: August 2010, Volume 23, Issue 10, Page 8.
Supplementation measured against sun exposure!
Oral supplementation of vitamin D remains the safest way to get adequate levels, researchers have concluded in a study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. The study compared the sun exposure required to achieve serum vitamin D3 concentrations equivalent to 400iu.
Looking at Boston, America between April and October, it was found that an individual on average would need 8 minutes in the sun to synthesise 400iu, but in Miami, Florida it would only take about 4 minutes. Concluding the research, the team noted that although sun exposure is a good way to obtain vitamin D, there are too many well-known detrimental side effects related to ultraviolet irradiation. Therefore, oral supplementation remains the safest way for increasing vitamin D status.
Low Vitamin D levels ‘linked to Parkinson’s disease’
In a Finnish study of 3000 people, published in Archives of Neurology, found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, had a three-fold higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. It was suggested that vitamin D could help protect the nerve cells gradually lost by people with the disease. The study was conducted over 30 years and also concluded that as we age our bodies ability to produce vitamin D through the action of sunlight on the skin diminishes.
Further research is required to find out whether taking a dietary supplement, or increased sun exposure may have an effect on Parkinson’s, and at what quantity and stage these would be most beneficial.
Sources:
Health Food Business: August 2010, Volume 23, Issue 10, Page 10.
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10601091.stm
