High-dose EPA, combined with statins, benefits cardiovascular patients
Last Updated Aug 2007
The most recent issue of Lancet (31 March 2007, Volume 369 Pages 1090-1098)
contains a major study that demonstrates the striking benefits of combining high-
dose EPA with statin drugs for patients with cardiovascular disease. The study
consisted of nearly 19,000 Japanese patients taking standard amounts of statins
plus or minus 1.8 grams of EPA per day. After more than 4 1/2 years, those taking
the statins plus fish oil had 19 percent fewer major cardiovascular events. This
is a remarkable decrease, especially considering the subjects initially had high
LDL cholesterol (182 mg/dl) levels. Since this was a Japanese population, they
already had relatively low AA/EPA levels compared to Americans, due to their
increased consumption of fish. The extra EPA simply decreased it even more.
What this means to Americans, who have a much higher AA/EPA ratio, is that if they
are taking statins, they should supplement their diet with even greater amounts EPA
than used in this study to get the same benefits. Since I routinely recommend
about 5 grams of EPA and DHA for cardiovascular patients, using a 2:1 ratio of EPA
to DHA, this translates into about 3.2 g per day of EPA. That is a lot of EPA, but
if you want a nearly 20-percent reduction in cardiovascular events, it is very good
medicine since the only side effect is that it will make you smarter.