Middle America's Worldview

I personally take (2) 1000 mg tablets of fish oil daily as part of my vitamen intake. Our son also takes fish oil as one of his vitamen supplements. We have heard how good it suppose to be for you. Eating certain fish with fruits and vegetables are good diet, ect. I ran across this study showing the benefits of fish oil for patients with Acute Lung Injury. I thought it was really interesting and wanted to share it.

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http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_news.php?event=org_news_print_list...

Roman Bystrianyk, "Borage and Fish Oil aid patients with Acute Lung
Injury", Health Sentinel, February 24, 2006,


Acute Lung Injury, or ALI, is most often seen as part of a systemic
inflammatory process and may be caused by trauma, sepsis (blood
infection), aspiration, and many other causes. Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome, or ARDS, is the most serious form of Acute Lung
Injury. Some of the other causes of ALI and ARDS are pneumonia, near
drowning, burns, and inhalation of noxious fumes.


An October 2005 study published in of the New England Journal of
Medicine indicated that there might be a great many more cases of ALI
in the United States than previously recognized. The new estimate
suggests that there maybe two to five times as many acute lung
injuries. The study authors estimated 190,600 cases of acute lung
injury occur each year that result in 3.6 million hospital stays and
74,500 deaths.


Recent evidence has shown that intervention with dietary fish oil,
which contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or gamma-linolenic acid
(GLA), found in borage oil, may be beneficial in patients with ALI by
reducing inflammation. A 1999 study published in Critical Care Medicine
noted a decrease in inflammation in patients with ARDS that were given
EPA and GLA compared with controls. The EPA and GLA patients also
required fewer days of ventilation and had shorter time in the
intensive care unit (ICU).


A new study published in Critical Care Medicine examined the effect of
EPA and GLA on patients with ALI. In the study 49 patients received a
control formula and 46 received the EPA and GLA formula. The EPA and
GLA formula also included additional vitamin E, vitamin C,
beta-carotene, taurine, and L-carnitine.


The authors found that in this single-centered study there was an
advantage in the diet enriched with fish and borage oil. There was
improved oxygenation in patients as well as a small but significantly
shorter amount of time requiring ventilation - 13.1 days versus 17.6
days in the control group. The authors note that the better outcome in
the EPA and GLA group could be by "reducing inflammatory process in
the lung and improving lung mechanics and oxygenation."


The authors conclude, "our study demonstrates that this EPA + GLA
diet improves oxygenation and lung dynamics, and also morbidity related
to the lung condition, decreasing the LOV [Length of Ventilation] in
the ICU."


SOURCE: Critical Care Medicine, April 2006 [Epub ahead of print]