15. December 2005 16:31
A two-gram fish oil supplement given daily to elderly persons prevented a decline in heart rate variability caused by tiny, dangerous airborne pollutant particles. Heart rate variability, a measure of the autonomic nervous system's regulation of the heart, is an independent risk factor for cardiac arrhythmias, heart attack or sudden death.
These findings appeared in the second issue of the December 2005 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
Fernando Holguin, M.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and eight associates provided fish oil supplements to 26 residents of a nursing home in Mexico City. A control group of 24 residents was given soy oil supplements. The participants' average age ranged from 81 to 83 years old.
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