Clinical Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death by n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Mechanism of Prevention of Arrhythmias by n-3 Fish Oils

T his review will be limited specifically to the beneficial prevention by the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) of arrhythmic deaths, including sudden cardiac death, which annually causes some 300 000 deaths in the United States and millions more worldwide.We will also show that the growing body of positive clinical studies is supported by what has been learned in animal and laboratory studies regarding the mechanism by which n-3 PUFAs prevent cardiac arrhythmias.