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A single omega-3 fish oil capsule taken daily could help keep some people with heart failure out of hospital, a study has revealed.
A second trial, however, found that statins - conventional medicines prescribed for many healthy people with high cholesterol at risk of heart disease - have no effect once the arteries have narrowed to the point where heart failure occurs.
The results of both studies were revealed recently in Munich at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting and published online by the Lancet medical journal. Italian researchers investigated the potential of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on patients with chronic heart failure - which occurs when the heart struggles to pump blood around the body because of narrowing arteries.
Professors Luigi Tavazzi and Gianni Tognoni from the ANMCO Research Centre in Florence followed 3,494 patients with chronic heart failure who were given omega-3, and 3,481 others who were randomly assigned to take a placebo capsule, for between three and nine years.
More of those given the omega-3 survived, although the difference was small. In the omega-3 group, 955 died (27 per cent), whereas among those given a placebo, 1,014 (29 per cent) died. More of those in the placebo group were also admitted to hospital with heart-related problems.
Statins, however, did not prove useful in a second trial, where 2,285 patients were given 10mg a day of rosuvastatin while 2,289 received a placebo. After four years, the researchers found there was no significant difference between deaths and hospital admissions in the two groups.
Dr Greg Fonarow, a Los Angeles-based cardiologist, wrote in the Lancet that all eligible patients should be told that omega-3 supplements could help them.
Dr Tony Wierzbicki, a committee member of HEART UK, said that statins still had benefits in reducing early stage heart disease.
