Eating a tuna sandwich may increase the risk of heart disease in people who take aspirin, but eating three tuna sandwiches and taking aspirin ... probably not.
At least, that's according to new findings presented Nov. 10 at the American Heart Association's (AHA) annual scientific meeting. The findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Senior study author Dr. Robert Block, a cardiologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, emphasized that the new findings should be interpreted with caution and need to be replicated in other studies before changing recommendations for aspirin intake, Block said in an interview with Live Science.
The study found that blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids may alter the effects of aspirin on heart health. (Omega-3s are found in high-fat fish, including tuna.)
Doctors often prescribe daily low-dose aspirin for people at risk of heart attack. This is because the drug acts as an anticoagulant, helping to prevent blood clots from forming. And omega-3s are thought to help reduce the risk of heart disease, although a major trial also presented at the AHA meeting, called the VITAL study, found that omega-3s may have less of an impact on heart health than previously thought. [9 New Ways to Keep Your Heart Healthy]
Block, whose research has nothing to do with life studies, set out to see what happened when people put the two compounds together. However, he points out that some people find daily low-dose aspirin controversial as well. In particular, doctors have begun to question the benefits of aspirin for people who have never had a heart attack, in part because it increases a person's risk of internal bleeding, he said.
On the other hand, for people who have already had a heart attack or stroke, or who have been diagnosed with a vascular disease, Brock said there are "clear data" that low-dose aspirin is a good choice for people who have had a heart attack or stroke, or who have been diagnosed with a vascular disease. low-dose aspirin is beneficial. These people still have an increased risk of bleeding, he said, but the benefits of aspirin slightly outweigh the risks.
But that's before omega-3 enters the equation.
The Fish Oil FactorBlock and his team looked at the effects of omega-3 on heart health, but in their study, they also considered aspirin use.In 2015, Block published a small study of 30 participants that looked at what happened in the blood when people took both aspirin and fish oil. The researchers found that with moderate levels of omega-3s in the blood, the combination affected platelets, which play an important role in the clotting process but can also lead to dangerous blood vessel blockages.
For this new study, Block and his team turned to a larger database called the Framingham Heart Study, dating back to 1948. Here, they looked at the relationship between the number of people who took aspirin every day over 30 years of follow-up and the number of those who had a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event.
Once the researchers adjusted for factors such as age and risk of heart disease, they found that taking low doses of omega-3s increased the risk of heart disease by about two times in people who took aspirin daily compared to those who did not take any of the substance. Brock noted that a low dose of omega-3 means that between 4.2 percent and 4.9 percent of all fatty acids in an individual's bloodstream are omega-3. this very specific amount translates to about one tuna sandwich a week.
The researchers also found that people who did not take aspirin, but consumed the same low dose of omega-3, had a 55 percent lower fatty acid profile He added that they were at a higher risk of heart disease compared to those who did not take any omega-3. But the researchers did not find a link between aspirin and omega-3 in terms of more or less fatty acid content.
So to summarize the findings: aspirin plus a small amount of omega-3 was associated with a slightly increased risk of heart disease. Small amounts of omega-3 plus no aspirin Brock says, n was associated with a lower risk.
This strange effect may be because aspirin and omega-3 work on the same molecular pathway. So whether people should take aspirin may depend on how much seafood they eat, or how much fish oil they take. But it may also depend on genetic factors that can change the way aspirin and omega-3 are metabolized.
"My overarching statement is that more research needs to be done - we can't say for sure that this means you shouldn't be taking or should be taking aspirin," Brock said. For starters, "we need to figure out if [these findings] can be replicated in other studies, and that's what we hope to do."
5 Key Nutrients Women Need at Age 7 7 Foods That May Increase Stroke Risk Your Heart Will Hate was originally published in Life Sciences on.