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Blood pressure, serum lipids, and fatty acids in populations on a lake‐fish diet or on a vegetarian diet in Tanzania
Author(s) -
Pauletto P.,
Puato M.,
Angeli M. T.,
Pessina A. C.,
Munhambo A.,
BittoloBon G.,
Galli C.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02637098
Subject(s) - eicosapentaenoic acid , docosahexaenoic acid , blood pressure , medicine , lipidology , zoology , endocrinology , chemistry , clinical chemistry , fatty acid , biology , polyunsaturated fatty acid , biochemistry
Major risk factors for coronary heart disease were assessed in two populations of Tanzania, one on a fish diet (FD) living along the coast of Lake Nyasa, and the other, mainly on a vegetarian diet (VD), living in a farming area. Lower blood pressure values were found in the FD subjects (n=618) vs. VD (n=618) (systolic blood pressure, SBP, 120±15 vs. 135±20, P <0.01; diastolic blood pressure, DBP, 70±9 vs. 78±11, P <0.01, respectively). In an FD subgroup (n=61), total cholesterol (TC) (122 vs. 136 mg/dL, P <0.01); triglycerides (TG) (82 vs. 105 mg/dL, P <0.01); and lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] (19.9±18.4 vs. 32.3±22.4, P <0.001) were lower than in a VD subgroup (n=55). Serum fatty acids (FA) in the FD subgroup were as follows: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (20∶5) 2.48 vs. 0.72%, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (22∶6) 5.93 vs. 1.49%, vs. the VD, respectively. Arachidonic acid (AA) (20∶4n‐6) also was higher in the FD vs. the VD group (9.85 vs. 8.30%, P <0.05), whereas 18∶2n‐6 was about double (23.97 and 14.85%) in VD vs. FD. The peculiar serum FA pattern in FD reflected the FA of dietary fish. In fact, in four main species of lake fish, DHA was 8–19%, higher than EPA (1.8–4.2%), in contrast with the situation in cold‐water fish, and AA was 5.8–8%, higher than in cold‐water fish. The data, obtained in populations strictly on natural, unprocessed, low‐fat diets, show that a diet based on freshwater fish results in lower BP, serum TC, TG, and Lp(a), and suggests that serum AA is not reduced when the major dietary n‐3 is DHA rather than EPA.