Alpha-linolenic acid prevents deadly heart rhythm changes in women

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Looks like the alpha-linolenic in veggies makes the heart beat "right", to keep it simple.

Your heart rate naturally varies throughout the day, (kinda like your productivity....), and this is the sign of a nice, "healthily relaxed" heart. When your heart rate "clamps down" at a specific level, that is an indication that there is a "problem" that is needing "more attention", and so the rate gets "clamped" by "higher up" control mechanisms. However, it is preferable to have a heart that does not need to have this kind of supervision, because if that supervision should "fail" at any moment, there are not any more "safeguards" to prevent the heart from driving off the road in the form of an "arrhythmia"....

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09394753

Alpha-linolenic acid and heart rate variability in women examined for coronary artery disease

Jeppe Hagstrup Christensena, , , Berg Schmidtb, Mølenbergb and Egon Toftc aDepartment of Nephrology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, 9100 Aalborg, DenmarkbDepartment of Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University

Hospital, Aalborg, DenmarkcCenter for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark Received 22 June 2004; revised 17 September 2004; accepted 21 September 2004. Available online 25 July 2005.

Summary

Background and aim

Some studies suggest that alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) may protect against coronary artery disease (CAD) and CAD related death (i.e. sudden cardiac death). Thus, some limited data suggest an antiarrhythmic effect of ALA. We therefore investigated the association between ALA and 24-h heart rate variability (HRV), a strong predictor of arrhythmic events and sudden cardiac death, in women. Methods and results

The content of ALA in adipose tissue and HRV was determined in 106 women referred for coronary angiography due to suspected CAD. Mean age was 59.5 years (±7) and the content of ALA in adipose tissue was 0.9% (±0.2). Smokers (n = 33) had significantly lower HRV compared to non-smokers, whereas the two groups were otherwise comparable regarding clinical characteristics. If the patients were divided according to SDNN quartiles (the major HRV parameter), women belonging to the lowest quartile had the lowest ALA level (0.8% vs 0.9%, p < 0.01). Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between ALA and HRV, especially among smokers (r = 0.5, p < 0.001). Linear multiple regression analysis revealed that ALA was independently and positively associated with HRV. Conclusions

A positive and independent association was found between ALA in adipose tissue and HRV in women referred for coronary angiography due to suspected coronary artery disease. This association was even stronger for women who smoked. The results might suggest a possible antiarrhythmic effect of ALA in women, an effect which could explain results from previous studies. However, intervention trials with ALA in humans, not least women are warranted. Keywords: Alpha-linolenic acid; n-3 Fatty acids; Women; Heart rate variability; Sudden cardiac death

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"Dietary Sources

Dietary sources of ALA include flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, soybeans and soybean oil, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil, purslane, perilla seed oil, walnuts and walnut oil. " -

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/AlphaLinolenicAcidALAcs.html

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T. pct35768@...

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