For decades, patients who suffer from heart diseases are encouraged to eat more fish or make fish oil supplements a part of their diet, for the simple reason that they are believed to extend the lifespan of these patients.

Now, a new study has provided further evidence to support the belief. Through the study, researchers have discovered that for patients of cardiovascular diseases, omega-3 fatty acids are essential as they might end up offering added protection against death and illness, by "slowing biological aging".

Some cardiac experts, however, have challenged the findings, asserting that the study contains some major and serious limitations.

For the sake of research, leader Dr. Ramin Farzaneh-Far of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues, analyzed data collected after following over 600 men with heart problems and discovered that those who consumed onega-3 "appeared" to be "biologically younger".

"Patients with the highest levels of omega-3 fish oils were found to display the slowest decrease in telomere length, whereas those with the lowest levels of omega-3 fish oils in the blood had the fastest rate of telomere shortening, This suggests that these patients were aging faster than those with higher fish oil levels", said Dr. Farzaneh-Far.

Details of the study have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.