Fish Oil Pills Appear to Help Against Heart Failure

MUNICH - A daily fish oil capsule modestly reduced deaths and hospitalizations in patients with chronic heart failure, researchers reported Sunday at Europe's largest cardiology meeting — a rare win for a supplement in a rigorous trial.

The study of nearly 7,000 patients in Italy found that those taking one gram of omega-3 fatty acids daily were slightly less likely to die or be hospitalized for heart problems over four years than those given a placebo.

The benefit was small — a few percentage points — but cardiologists called it significant because heart failure, a weakening of the heart's pumping ability, has few cheap treatments and is growing as populations age.

"This is not a reason to throw away your medicines," the study's lead author said. "It is a reason to consider adding a very cheap, very safe pill to standard care."

Doctors cautioned that the results apply to purified, prescription-grade omega-3 capsules, not necessarily to drugstore supplements, whose purity and dose vary widely.

The same meeting heard that a cholesterol drug in the statin family cut deaths in heart failure patients as well, a more surprising finding for a class of drugs once thought unhelpful in the condition.

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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