Add Some Fish Oil to Your Statin

You’d think the Japanese eat enough fish to be healthy, but it seems some of them who are cardiovascular at-risk patients can benefit by adding fish oil supplements to statin medication. In a study published in The Lancet over 18,000 patients were given either 1800 mg/day highly purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) capsules plus a statin, or a statin alone. The statins were either pravastatin (10 mg daily) or simvastatin (5 mg daily). All the patients had to have a total cholesterol level over 250 mg/dL (6.5 mmol/L). Some of the patients had a history of coronary artery disease, while the others had risk factors for coronary disease. This allowed their classification into secondary prevention (previous coronary disease) and primary prevention (risk factors only) groups.

After 5 years, there was a 26% reduction in cholesterol levels in both EPA-plus-statin and statin-alone patients. In the EPA-plus-statin patients, there was a significant reduction in major coronary events (sudden cardiac death, heart attack, unstable angina, and the need for bypass or angioplasty surgery), compared to those in the statin-alone patients.

Analyzing the results in primary and secondary prevention, it was found that the secondary-prevention patients (i.e. those who already had coronary artery disease) had the greatest benefits from adding an EPA supplement, in particular in the reduction of unstable angina.

All told, taking an omega-3 supplement makes a lot of sense. Certainly, it makes more sense than taking most other supplements. However, don’t fret if you can’t afford it. The most favorable result – reducing unstable angina in secondary prevention patients – only caused a fall from reports of 6.7% in statin-alone patients to 4.8% in EPA-plus-statin patients.