Food & Drink Doesn’t Affect Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular, rapid heartbeat that causes poor blood flow to the body and symptoms of heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness.  It is seen more often in the elderly, and is often blamed on nutritional factors – too much alcohol, caffeine, dietary fiber, or even fish-derived polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).  As AF can have severe consequences – e.g. stroke – it seems important to characterize possible dietary lifestyle factors that might increase the likelihood of developing the condition.  This was the topic of a publication by Boston researchers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.   

Participants were recruited from the original and ‘offspring cohorts’ of the Framingham Study.  A total of 4,526 subjects without AF were followed for 4 years; their average age was 62, and 56% of them were women.  Food and drink frequency questionnaires were completed by the participants.

During the study, 296 participants (177 men, 119 women) developed AF.  There were no significant links between any of the dietary factors examined (alcohol, caffeine, fiber, and fish-derived PUFA) and the risk of developing AF.  There was an association between eating more than 4 servings of ‘dark fish’/week and a risk for AF, but this may have been spurious – there were only 21 participants who ate this much dark fish overall.

In another study, reported at the recent American Heart Association meeting, there was no effect of PUFA supplements (e.g. omega-3s) given at a high dose level (4g/day) for 6 months on recurrent paroxysmal AF.   They didn’t suppress, but also didn’t increase, the incidents of AF.

It’s good to know some of the lifestyle things that don’t cause AF, so that one can concentrate on those factors that do.  Apart from cardiac causes (sick sinus syndrome, heart valve disease, coronary artery disease, cardiac myopathy), there are other conditions that can be causative, but can be corrected: high blood pressure, overactive thyroid, pneumonia, and pulmonary embolism.   

At this time of year, it may be hard to dismiss a role for excessive drinking – the condition that’s been called ‘holiday heart’.  Maybe the Framingham folk’s food frequency questionnaire conveniently omitted holiday ‘holidays’?