Saving Seafood

Fish Oil Could Save Around $15 Billion in EU Healthcare Costs, Says New Study

May 17, 2016 — The following is an excerpt from a story published today by Food Ingredients First, which explains how Omega-3 supplements can save EU healthcare providers billions of dollars every year. A similar study by Dr. Doug Bibus, president of Lipid Technologies, was published in the journal Lipid Technology earlier this year. Bibus’s study found that Omega-3 fatty acids from menhaden oil could save billions of dollars in U.S. healthcare costs.

More widespread regular consumption of Omega 3 supplements could save healthcare systems and providers in the EU a total of €12.9 billion ($14.69 billion) a year, according to an independent study commissioned by Food Supplements Europe.

Using existing published literature and official data, researchers at Frost & Sullivan explored the financial benefits of the consumption of Omega 3 EPA+DHA food supplements among people aged 55 and over. This demographic group, representing 157.6 million people or 31% of the total EU population, is considered to be at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Overall it is forecast that in the EU, 24% of people aged 55 and over (i.e. 38.4 million people) are in danger of experiencing a CVD-attributed hospital event between 2016 and 2020. This is expected to cost as much as €1.328 trillion ($1.512 trillion) over this five-year period – equivalent to €34,637 ($39,453) per event.

Read the full story at Food Ingredients First

Higher blood levels of omega-3 may help depression in heart patients

March 17, 2016 — Despite earlier reports to the contrary, patients suffering from heart disease and depression may benefit from taking supplements of omega-3 fatty acids.

New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that initial levels of omega-3 fatty acids in a heart patient’s blood have a significant impact on whether that person will respond to omega-3 supplements to treat depression.

“We found that people with higher levels of omega-3 in their blood may benefit more from additional omega-3, in the form of supplements, than those whose blood levels of the fatty acids were lower at the outset,” said principal investigator Robert M. Carney, professor of psychiatry. “Because depression is linked to heart attacks and sudden cardiac death in patients with cardiovascular disease, we have been trying to figure out how best to improve depression in these patients. These findings offer potential answers for a very significant problem.”

The findings are published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Read the full story from Washington University in St. Louis

‘Supplements and Safety’ Explores What’s in Your Supplements

January 19, 2016 — Americans spend an estimated $1.3 billion on fish oil products every year, making them one of the most commonly consumed dietary supplements in the country.

But do you know what’s in your fish oil?

A new documentary, “Supplements and Safety,” pulls back the curtain on some of America’s most popular supplements, and it suggests that many people who buy them may not be getting what they are paying for. The program, airing on the PBS investigative series “Frontline” on Tuesday night, is a collaboration between “Frontline,” The New York Times and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The program examines the widespread use of potent vitamins, herbs, fish oil and fat-burning supplements. Millions of Americans use these products safely every year. But researchers have found that in many cases they can cause unexpected side effects. And because dietary supplements are largely unregulated by the federal government, adulteration and contamination are common, experts say.

The Frontline documentary investigates large outbreaks of disease tied to tainted vitamins and fat-burning supplements, including one case in which a workout supplement was linked to more than 70 cases of liver damage. The company whose products were at the center of that outbreak, USPlabs, is among 117 companies and individuals that the Justice Department filed criminal and civil enforcement actions against last year.

Read the full story at The New York Times