Dietary ALA Intake Tied to Prognosis in Heart Failure

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with heart failure, higher intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the main plant omega-3, is associated with a reduced risk for incident adverse clinical outcomes, according to a study published online Oct. 24 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Iolanda Lázaro, Ph.D., from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues examined the association between dietary ALA intake and heart failure prognosis in 905 ambulatory patients with heart failure with different etiologies.

A total of 140 all-cause deaths, 85 cardiovascular (CV) deaths, and 141 first heart failure hospitalizations were documented after a median follow-up of 2.4 years. The researchers found that patients at the upper three quartiles versus the lowest quartile of ALA had a reduced risk for the composite of all-cause death and first heart failure hospitalization (hazard ratio, 0.61). For all-cause death, CV death, first heart failure hospitalization, and the composite of CV death and heart failure hospitalization, statistically significant reductions were observed (hazard ratios, 0.58, 0.51, 0.58, and 0.58, respectively).

"Elevated ALA levels in serum phospholipids, which mirror dietary intake, were related to a lower risk of incident adverse clinical outcomes during a mid-term follow-up in patients with heart failure," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry; a second author disclosed ties to the California Walnut Commission.

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