HHS HealthBeat (August 20, 2008)

Protective acids

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Eating healthy vegetable oils and fish regularly can help your heart. These foods have special fatty acids called omega-3. The body does not make omega-3 by itself, so it’s important we make them a part of our diet.

Omega-3s are in some vegetable oils, as well as in fish and walnuts.

Dr. Hannia Campos of the Harvard School of Public Health says even small amounts of omega-3s could help.

She led a study in Costa Rica, where people get much less omega-3s than we do in the United States.

“We found that high levels of omega-3 fatty acid were linked with a 59 percent reduction in the risk of getting a heart attack.” (7 seconds)

The study in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 20 2008