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Ulrich Laufs, Stephan H. Schirmer, Margarines supplemented with low dose n-3 fatty acids are not effective in secondary prevention, European Heart Journal, Volume 33, Issue 13, July 2012, Pages 1555–1557, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehs063
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This editorial refers to ‘Effects of n-3 fatty acids on major cardiovascular events in statin users and non-users with a history of myocardial infarction’†, by S.R.B.M. Eussen et al., on page 1582
The concept of ‘functional foods’ is to add biologically active compounds to natural or processed foods to achieve a health benefit for the prevention or treatment of chronic diseases. The functional food industry continues to be an area of fast growth, in part because regulations and marketing strategies differ substantially from those of the pharmaceutical industry. Prospective randomized studies testing the impact of a functional food on cardiovascular events are rare. Therefore, Kromhout et al. are to be congratulated on their important Alpha Omega trial that randomized 4837 patients post-myocardial infarction to margarines supplemented with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (with a targeted additional daily intake of 400 mg) and/or plant-derived alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) (with a targeted additional daily intake of 2 g).1 In agreement with recent studies such as OMEGA2 and SU.FOL.OM3,3 Alpha Omega showed that margarines with low-dose n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 FAs) do not prevent cardiovascular events in patients post-myocardial infarction. The result of the study is important, clear, and consistent: all three n-3 FA-supplemented margarines tested did not reduce the number of cardiovascular endpoints.
