Dietary supplements of linolenic acid may tend to prevent coronary thrombosis, Norwegian scientist P. A. Owren, MD, told the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians in Chicago.
Owren, who is professor of medicine, University of Oslo, said his tentative conclusion is based on experiments in animals and on retrospective dietary studies in man. A double-blind test of the theory, which eventually will encompass some 15,000 subjects, is now beginning in Norway, he said.
In his dietary studies, Owren said, he found "a striking negative correlation between the content of linolenic acid in the fat consumed and the mortality of cardiovascular diseases."
During World War II, the cardiovascular death rate in Norway dropped sharply. But at the same time, because of food restrictions, the amount of linolenic acid in fat consumed there increased markedly. More recent studies in Norway's rural districts of Lom and Skjak show the linolenic acid