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'Functional food' doubles as heart medicine, U of G researchers find

University of Guelph nutritional scientist Bruce Holub and master's student Emily Rose show an egg product they tested which is enriched with fish oils that lower triglyceride levels, reducing the risk of heart attacks.

Fish and egg from story "Good eggs"
Imagine eating scrambled eggs for breakfast every day, secure in the knowledge that, rather than being a dietary disaster, it would dramatically cut down your chances of heart attack, heart disease or stroke.

It sounds crazy, but these aren't ordinary scrambled eggs.

They're what University of Guelph nutritional scientist Bruce Holub calls a "functional food" -- a food that has been specially designed to turn it into both a food and a medicine.

Holub and master's student Emily Rose recently completed a study on a new liquid egg product called Omega Pro, which consists of liquid whole egg and egg whites, to which heart-healthy fish oils have been added.

They found that the product lowered blood triglyceride levels by 32 per cent after the study's subjects spent three weeks eating a daily scrambled-egg breakfast made from the product. Triglycerides are a type of fat in the blood, high levels of which represent increased risk of premature heart attack, heart disease and stroke.

The dramatic drop in those levels is "very exciting," Holub said. "Many of the subjects (in the study) were in the risk zone of having a heart attack. We lowered their risk of having a heart attack. That was impressive."

The reduction in triglyceride levels was comparable to the effects obtained by heart medications, Holub said. It's "in the range of what we see from expensive, patented American pharmaceutical products."

The benefit of eating a food that has a drug-like effect, rather than taking a drug, is that "it's all natural," he said. "There are no risks of side effects."

Although the manufacturer helped pay the costs of the study conducted by Holub, he didn't receive a paycheque from them, he emphasized.

The study used 16 men whose risk of heart problems was mildly or moderately higher than average.

Half of the men ate a daily breakfast made from the Omega Pro scrambled egg product, which is low in fat and has 80 per cent less cholesterol than whole eggs. The other half ate a bacon-and-waffles breakfast that was exactly the same as the egg breakfast in fat, calories, carbohydrates and protein.

After three weeks, there was a rest period, and then the two groups switched breakfasts, each eating the other kind of breakfast every day for three weeks. This type of study design is called a crossover study, and it's considered by scientists to be even more reliable than the type in which there's a control group, Holub said.

The men showed no change in blood cholesterol, but those who ate the egg breakfast showed the steep drop in blood triglyceride levels.

The active ingredient in the egg product is menhaden oil, which contains Omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish.

These fish oils have been shown to have dramatically beneficial effects in reducing the chances of heart and stroke problems. Holub pointed to one major Italian study involving 12,000 subjects who were receiving the best medical care and drugs.

But those that took 900 milligrams a day of the Omega-3 fatty acids experienced a 45 per cent drop in their risk of premature heart attack.

With evidence like this, "why is this not at the forefront of cardiovascular care in North America?" he asked. "Let's get on with it."

Holub takes fish oil capsules, one of which provides 300 mg of the fatty acids.

That compares with a 100 g (four-ounce) serving of salmon, which provides about 1,200 mg; a 100 g (four-ounce) serving of tuna, which offers 400 mg; a 100 g (four-ounce) serving of mackerel, which offers 2,500 mg; a regular egg, which provides about 160 mg, or an Omega Pro egg serving, which provides 1,200 mg.

The American Heart Association recommends 900 mg a day of Omega-3 fatty acids. But Canadians have been slow to embrace the cause, and dietitians are not allowed to recommend Omega-3 fatty acids because they're not considered to be a food, Holub said.

The Omega Pro egg product, which is available in local supermarkets, is another option for those who don't like fish and don't want to take the fish oil capsules, Holub said.

But it also represents the beginning of a new technology that he believes will soon produce many such foods. In the United States, there already exists a margarine product that lowers blood cholesterol by eight to 10 per cent. The margarine contains plant sterols, a fatty substance which lower cholesterol levels by absorbing it in the gut, he said.

And fourth-year U of G students are designing new foods that heal, such as a cookie that lowers cholesterol. "These kids practically have to have patent lawyers in the classroom," Holub enthused. "We're at the tip of the iceberg. It's so exciting."

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