Dietary prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Abstract

Summary : Based on current knowledge of the effectof (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid on sudden cardiacdeath, what should clinicians do in relation to primaryprevention of sudden cardiac death? Existing evidencesuggests that an intake of (n-3) polyunsaturated fattyacid (about 1 g daily), in the form of supplements or,alternatively, by eating at least two large (about 200 g)servings of fatty fish per week, will help to preventsudden cardiac death. At present, there is no reason toencourage (or prescribe) a consumption of much morethan 1 to 2 g of (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid per day.The dosage to be recommended in high-risk patients andin secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death war-rants further investigation, which should be urgentlydesigned. Other dietary fatty acids and suddencardiac death Animal experiments have clearly indicated that a dietrich in saturated fatty acids is associated with a highincidence of ischaemia- and reperfusion-induced ven-tricular arrhythmias, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acidof either the (n-6) or (n-3) family reduce that risk