UNDURTI N. DAS
UND Life Sciences, Battle Ground, USA
BioScience Research Centre and Department of Medicine, GVP Medical College and Hospital, Visakapatnam, India

Omega fatty acids and their clinical importance: An opinion

One of the important conclusions drawn about fish oil (rich in EPA and DHA) by several contributors is that EPA and DHA are of benefit in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and depression and anxiety. To achieve this beneficial action, it is suggested that an adult need to ake of 1g EPA + DHA per day. It was opined that increased intake of EPA/DHA could have prevented 227,000 European deaths during 2016.

Although EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA, 20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6) are beneficial, the exact amount of EPA/DHA that needs to be taken per day to obtain their beneficial actions and how and why they are beneficial needs to be well established.

The beneficial actions of EPA and DHA have been attributed to their anti-inflammatory and vasodilator and platelet anti-aggregator actions. But this is not without controversy. Bhatt et al (1) reported that Icosapent ethyl (a pure form of EPA) reduced the risk of ischemic events including cardiovascular death. This beneficial action of Icosapen ...