For patients with HF, higher intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the main plant omega-3, is associated with a reduced risk for incident adverse clinical outcomes, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Antoni Bayés-Genís, MD, PhD, FESC, and colleagues examined the association between
dietary ALA intake and HF prognosis in 905 ambulatory patients with HF with different etiologies. A total of 140 all-cause deaths, 85 cardiovascular (CV) deaths, and 141 first HF hospitalizations were documented after a median follow-up of 2.4 years. Patients in the upper three quartiles versus the lowest quartile of ALA had a reduced risk for the composite of all-cause death and first HF hospitalization (HR, 0.61). For all-cause death, CV death, first HF hospitalization, and the composite of CV death and HF hospitalization, statistically significant reductions were observed (HRs, 0.58, 0.51, 0.58, and 0.58, respectively). “Elevated ALA levels in serum phospholipids, which mirror dietary intake, were related to a lower risk of incident adverse clinical outcomes during a mid-term follow-up in patients with [HF],” Dr. Bayés-Genís and colleagues wrote.
