A Balanced Omega 6 Omega 3 Fatty Acid Ratio Cholesterol And Coronary Heart Disease

For more than half a century, the relationship between dietary factors and coronary heart disease (CHD) has been a major focus of health research. Contrary to the established view, current data suggest that dietary cholesterol is not a primary factor of or causes heart disease with the possible exception of the genetic forms of familial hypercholesterolemias. For instance, recent clinical trials evaluating the effect of cholesterol-lowering drugs on the development of chronic heart failure, diabetes and stroke have yielded disappointing results. On the other hand, an unbalanced omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio and a cholesterol intake not consistent with the amount during evolution seem to be causal factors in the development of CHD. A panel of international experts in genetics, nutrition, fatty acid, cholesterol, metabolism and coronary heart disease has contributed to this publication, summarizing and critically discussing for the first time the importance of evolutionary aspects of diet, the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio and cholesterol intake relative to health and CHD. They also propose measuring blood fatty acids in the population in order to define the risk of CHD and other chronic diseases.This book will be of interest to physicians (cardiologists, gerontologists, and pediatricians), nutritionists, dieticians, health care providers, scientists in industry and government and policy makers.

Studies on the evolutionary aspects of diet and molecular studies included in this volume indicate that human beings evolved on a diet that was balanced in the essential fatty acids (EFA). In fact, the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 EFA was 1/1 whereas present day diets in both developed and developing countries have a much higher ratio, between 5/1 and 50/1. Additional studies show that a high ratio of omega-6/omega-3 EFA is detrimental to health and may lead to the development of chronic diseases. Improving the dietary ratio by decreasing the omega-6 fatty acids and increasing the omega-3 fatty acids is essential for brain function and for the management of cardiovascular disease, arthritis and cancer. A ratio of 4/1 or less leads to lower dosage and to the reduction of adverse effects of drugs. This volume should be of interest to a large and varied audience of researchers in academia, industry, and government; cardiologists, geneticists, immunologists, neuroscientists, and cancer specialists; as well as nutritionists, dietitians, food scientists, agriculturists, economists and regulators.

This publication is organized in an exceptional way: Each chapter introduces several completed clinical trials and provides the original conclusions and discussions of the results. The authors then contribute their own comments and interpretations of the findings, challenging the prevailing belief that serum cholesterol is a mediator of disease which is increased by eating saturated fats and decreased by eating polyunsaturated fats. They argue that upon closer scrutiny, the diet recommendations based on the cholesterol hypothesis are essentially ineffective in reducing serum cholesterol levels in the long run. Instead, it is proposed that traditional cholesterol biomarkers are of different significance in short- and long-term interventions due to the feedback control mechanisms in the body. Even more important, the association of high serum cholesterol values with high coronary heart disease mortality is not consistent when different populations are compared: This mortality rate may simply reflect the incidence and severity of familial hypercholesterolemia cases. This agrees with the observation that higher serum cholesterol values associate with lower cancer and all-cause mortalities in populations with a low relative proportion of this disorder. Thus, there seems to be no benefit of limiting dietary cholesterol intake or lowering serum cholesterol values below a certain limit. Moreover, evidence has been found that the health risk results from high intakes of calories, aggravated by an unbalanced intake of omega6/omega3 polyunsaturated fats. Based on the reviewed data, new directions of lipid nutrition are recommended for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, cancer and all-cause deaths, which will likely revolutionize current dietary practice.

This publication is organized in an exceptional way: Each chapter introduces several completed clinical trials and provides the original conclusions and discussions of the results. The authors then contribute their own comments and interpretations of the findings, challenging the prevailing belief that serum cholesterol is a mediator of disease which is increased by eating saturated fats and decreased by eating polyunsaturated fats. They argue that upon closer scrutiny, the diet recommendations based on the cholesterol hypothesis are essentially ineffective in reducing serum cholesterol levels in the long run. Instead, it is proposed that traditional cholesterol biomarkers are of different significance in short- and long-term interventions due to the feedback control mechanisms in the body. Even more important, the association of high serum cholesterol values with high coronary heart disease mortality is not consistent when different populations are compared: This mortality rate may simply reflect the incidence and severity of familial hypercholesterolemia cases. This agrees with the observation that higher serum cholesterol values associate with lower cancer and all-cause mortalities in populations with a low relative proportion of this disorder. Thus, there seems to be no benefit of limiting dietary cholesterol intake or lowering serum cholesterol values below a certain limit. Moreover, evidence has been found that the health risk results from high intakes of calories, aggravated by an unbalanced intake of omega6/omega3 polyunsaturated fats. Based on the reviewed data, new directions of lipid nutrition are recommended for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, cancer and all-cause deaths, which will likely revolutionize current dietary practice.

Diet and Health examines the many complex issues concerning diet and its role in increasing or decreasing the risk of chronic disease. It proposes dietary recommendations for reducing the risk of the major diseases and causes of death today: atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (including heart attack and stroke), cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, and dental caries.

Ever since the publication of Ancel Keys’ watershed ‘Seven Countries Study’ in 1970, medical thinking has posited a causal link between the intake of animal fats and coronary heart disease. The research of Prof. Harumi Okuyama and his colleagues presented in this new publication suggests that this link is in fact tenuous. It goes beyond that to suggest that current medical wisdom regarding lipid nutrition may actually be counterproductive. This ground-breaking analysis is likely to be debated for many years to come. The ‘Seven Countries Study’, which identified the specifics of the Mediterranean Diet and awarded it a central position in combating coronary heart disease, triggered significant changes in Western diets. Most notably, it stimulated a widespread attempt to reduce animal fats and replace them with vegetable fats. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) element of the cholesterol naturally present in animal-source foods was dubbed a killer, and a significant industry developed around the provision of plant-based oils and fats. The clinical consensus on cholesterol was further strengthened in 1987 by the introduction of statins, an innovative class of drugs that reduce LDL production in the liver and are designed to help guard against coronary heart disease. Thirteen Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists who devoted major parts of their careers to cholesterol research. It is therefore a brave research team that dares to challenge the link between animal fats and coronary heart disease. This, however, is precisely what Prof. Okuyama and his team set out to do in this book. They actually recommend increasing the intake of cholesterol and animal fats, to an extent that does not lead to obesity. This recommendation is based on the discovery by Prof. Okuyama and his team that common vegetable oils such as canola and hydrogenated vegetable fats have toxic effects. They demonstrate that hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils are important culprits in atherosclerosis and other lifestyle diseases, and suggest that high total or LDL-cholesterol is not the cause of atherosclerosis or cardiovascular disease. Further, they argue that current medical guidelines on lipid nutrition conflict with evidence-based research, and that persistently focusing on LDL-cholesterol as the cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is counterproductive. Key findings Some types of vegetable fats and oils exhibit stroke-inducing and endocrine-disrupting activity. Their inhibition of the vitamin K2–osteocalcin link is the major cause of ASCVD and related diseases. In the current food environment, the balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is too much in favour of omega-6, and therefore lowering the omega-6/omega-3 ratio is recommended for the prevention of allergic and inflammatory diseases including ASCVD and cancer. Atherogenesis can develop without elevated LDL-cholesterol levels and/or in association with decreasing LDL-cholesterol levels. Increased intake of vegetable fats and oils with stroke-inducing and endocrine-disrupting activities in countries with restricted intakes of animal fats and cholesterol has led to the critical situations surrounding physical and mental health currently seen in Japan, East Asia, and the Mediterranean countries. Medical care professionals continue to insist on actively reducing LDL-cholesterol levels. This approach will only heighten the extensive health problems that Japan and some countries are at present facing. Many aspects of current medical practice in Japan are indeed likely to be in conflict with that country’s Medical Care Act. This thought-provoking analysis of one of the major health syndromes of our day demands serious consideration by professionals interested in cardiovascular health in particular and in public health more widely. Its implications are far-reaching – for medical practitioners, medical insurers, nutritionists, food producers and pharmaceutical manufacturers alike, as well as for individual patients.

On June 24-26, 1985, a major International Conference on the Hea1th Effects of P01yunsaturated Fatty Acids in Seafoods was held in Washington, D. C. The conference had two objectives: (1) to review the research data on the health effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids in seafoods in terms of the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on eicosanoid formation, thrombosis and inflammation, and the role of docosahexaenoic acid in membrane function and metabolism, and (2) to develop a research agenda to determine the spectrum of the health effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids of seafood origin in the American diet. The 1985 conference established the fact that omega-3 fatty acids of marine origin - eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - play important roles in prostaglandin metabolism, thrombosis and atherosc1erosis, immunology and inflammation, and membrane function. In response to the conference recommendations, the Congress of the United States provided special funding for the establishment of a "test materials 1aboratory" within the US Department of Commerce to produce under documented quality contr01 the types and quanti ties of omega-3 te~3t materials required by biomedica1 researchers. The forms of test materials to be produced include refined fish oil, polyunsaturated fatty acid enhanced triglycerides, concentrates of esters of fatty acids, purified omega-3 fatty acids, and omega-3 mono-, di- and tri~lyceride mixtures.