Omega-3 margarine may reduce second heart attack risk for type 2 diabetes

December 16, 2011 

written by Michael O’Leary

If you have diabetes, the margarine you use may reduce your risk of a heart attack, a Dutch study shows.

A group of men diagnosed with diabetes who added margarine with Omega-3 fatty acids to their diets after having heart attacks experienced an 84 percent reduction in abnormal heart rhythms after their heart attacks compared to similar patients who did not add the fortified margarine to their diets. (Link to published site)

The surprising result came from a subgroup analysis of the ALPHA-OMEGA trial. That study of 4,837 men, ages 60 to 80, who had survived a heart attack was presented last year to the European Society of Cardiology. As reported by MedPage Today, that study was designed to determine if margarine containing Omega-3, or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), or alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), or a combination of these would reduce the risk of a second heart attack. Fatty acids are essential unsaturated fats that your body needs but can’t make and must be consumed in through food.

Led by Dr. Daan Kromhout, from Wageningen University in Wageningen, the Netherlands, that trial showed little benefit for the study group as a whole in terms of reducing second heart attacks. For the current study they went back and looked at the subgroup of 1,014 men considered to be at higher risk of a second heart attack because they had reported being diagnosed with diabetes.

They found that those who had recorded an average intake of 18.6 grams of the Omega-3 margarine per day had a significantly lower rate of heart-rhythm related events than those who ate the margarine without the additives. The current study was published in the December issue of Diabetes Care.

They followed the patients for a median of 40.7 months, and during that time 29 patients experienced an event related to an abnormal heart rhythm including two who died suddenly, one who had a nonfatal cardiac arrest, 11 who had a fatal cardiac arrest, and 15 who had a cardioverter defibrillator implanted, which is a device that shocks the heart out of an episode of abnormal rhythm.

After adjusting for age, sex, and current smoking, they calculated that 0.9 percent of the patients who ate Omega-3 experienced a subsequent heart-related event compared to 5.6 percent of those who ate unfortified margarine.

The researchers noted that their study has limitations due to the relatively small number heart rhythm events and deaths due to heart attacks. A larger study will be needed to confirm the results before any recommendations for dietary changes in people with diabetes.

It should also be noted that while the study was primarily funded by the Netherlands Heart Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, Unilever, the maker of Omega-3 fatty acid additives for food also contributed to the funding of the study.