I care for a family member with an AFib history. It has recently reared its head again after several years without an issue. I have been trying to find a possible trigger. One of the possible things I suspect is that it may be the overhaul in her diet the last couple of months.
I noticed one day when I inadvertently swapped her Salmon out for a chicken dinner it was happening less frequently that day. She had her regular food the following day and the episodes were frequent again. I still didn't know if there was a connection, but I had her lay off adding walnuts in her yogurt, and again - switched her Mackerel lunch for a non Omega 3 lunch and her AFib episodes lessened again.
I realized that her Omega 3 fatty acid dietary consumption is quite high (no supplements) and decided to research that. I just found a couple of studies linking high Omega 3 intake causing AFib. Today she began wearing a holter monitor for 2 days to see if its still Afib and nothing else additional going on. Well, after two weeks of AFib and her 2nd day of low Omega 3, she hasn't had an episode today. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
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Mulan1
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It’s possible but couldn’t comment. I’ll follow this thread as interested to see if others have had the same and I also read some of the studies showing similar.
Very interesting observation! Currently there is a debate going on in the Afib field on the supplementation and consumption of omega3 as indeed several studies found adverse effects. It's great that you're taking care of your family member and that you are aware and keeping track of Afib occurences after consuming omega3.
Here are some of the references, in case you haven't read them yourself already:
Thank you for providing some of the research. I appreciate it.
Today, my relative was free of AFib all day again, since lowering Omega 3 foods. However, In the evening she decided to have trout despite my suspicions. Exactly 2 hours later the bp machine kept recording an irregular heartbeat again consistently, as did my manual pulse checks.
Thankfully, she is still wearing the holter monitor for one more day and it will record whatever is actually happening throughout the evening.
Interesting. Thank you for your input. An allergy could be a possibility. She's never been allergic before, but I know that can change. Fish does have other things in it, like mercury. We try to limit the high mercury fish, but now she will be limiting all fish to see if the AFib can diminish.
One thing that makes me think its the Omega 3 that I didn't mention here, is that the same thing happened one of the days with a little flax in her yogurt. It was less than 1/4 of a serving. I initially thought it was the flax itself - so that has been eliminated from her diet. Flax is high in Omega 3.
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