Omega-3 deficient diets cause up to 96,000 preventable deaths each year in the U.S., a new study has found.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health examined 12 dietary, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors and found omega-3 fatty acid deficiency ranked as the sixth highest killer of American men and women. They established that this type of deficiency was even more harmful than high trans fat intake, which is responsible for an estimated 63,000 to 97,000 deaths annually.
“The numbers are shocking, especially given that these deaths are preventable with omega-3 supplementation,” says Lori Covert, vice president of Ocean Nutrition Canada.
“We know that daily doses of omega-3 EPA/DHA can help with many conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, and were committed to increasing consumer awareness about the drastic deficiency in the Western diet,” she adds.
The report was published in PLoS Medicine and found that tobacco smoking ranked as the highest risk factor with 436,000 to 500,000 attributed preventable deaths, followed by high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity and high salt intake.
Nuts and oily fish, such as a salmon, are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, and for those who are concerned about not receiving enough of them from their daily diet nutritional supplements may be a good option. 