Omega-3 to reduce cardiovascular risk in vegetarians

Vegetarians: less cardiovascular risk with plant-based omega-3s

A vegetarian or vegan diet can damage health because it deprives the body of important nutrients, including Omega-3 fatty acids. And it is again scientific studies that show how dangerous the lack of Omega-3s resulting from the total absence of animal foods from the diet is. It took Duo Li of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, to collect the data obtained from the various research conducted over the years and to draw the sums in an article that appeared in the pages of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, in which the author encourages the consumption of Omega-3 supplements in all those cases in which you just don't want to know about putting meat and fish on your plate.

Health that comes from fish

In fact, the main dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids are the fish that inhabit cold waters, such as mackerel, halibut, sardines, salmon, and herring. Few, on the other hand, are plants that contain these valuable fatty acids, for example, some microalgae. It follows, Li explains, that a vegan diet, which excludes fish consumption and does not ensure the proper intake of Omega-3s, could increase the formation of blood clots and atherosclerosis, resulting in an increased risk of thrombosis and, therefore, heart attacks and strokes. In fact, on the one hand, vegetarians, by excluding meat from their diet, eliminate some cardiovascular risk factors, such as the tendency to increase body mass index, waist and hip circumference ratio, blood pressure, plasma cholesterol and triacylglycerol and blood lipoprotein levels. On the other hand, in strict vegetarians and vegans, cell membranes are poor in omega-3 fatty acids, and this causes other problems that threaten cardiovascular health: platelet aggregation and decreased levels of HDL cholesterol, the so-called "good" form of cholesterol.

Omega-3s for heart health

Based on current data, Li explains, vegetarians, and especially vegans, would benefit from taking omega-3 fatty acids, which would reduce the risk of thrombosis that threatens their cardiovascular system. And it is Li himself who suggests dietary supplements to provide the bodies of those who completely eliminate fish from their diets with these valuable fatty acids.  

Source 

1. Li D, "Chemistry behind Vegetarianism," J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Feb 9;59(3):777-84