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Omega‐3 fatty acids from fish or capsules have equal impact on the omega‐3 index
Author(s) -
Harris William S,
Sands Scott,
Jones Philip
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a108-c
Subject(s) - fish oil , tuna , docosahexaenoic acid , omega , zoology , chemistry , fish <actinopterygii> , omega 3 fatty acid , eicosapentaenoic acid , medicine , food science , polyunsaturated fatty acid , fatty acid , biochemistry , biology , fishery , physics , quantum mechanics
Omega‐3 fatty acids (FA) have beneficial cardiovascular effects at intakes of about 500 mg/d. Such intakes can be achieved by consuming oily fish or taking fish oil capsules. A direct comparison of the effect of these two approaches on validated biomarkers of omega‐3 FA is lacking. We compared the impact of oily fish and omega‐3 FA ethyl esters on the EPA+DHA content of plasma phospholipids (PLs) and erythrocytes (the omega‐3 index) in a randomized, prospective study in 23 healthy pre‐menopausal women with low background intakes of omega‐3 FA. Every 2 weeks, the fish group ate 1 farmed salmon fillet and 3 cans of albacore tuna, while the capsule group took 17 capsules (1–2/day). This provided an additional 482–485 mg/d of EPA+DHA in both groups. After 16 weeks, the omega‐3 index increased from 4.1±0.6% to 6.5±1.2% (p<0.0001) in the fish group, and from 4.2±1.0% to 6.0±1.5% (p<0.0001) in the capsule group. The response was not different between groups. The plasma PL EPA+DHA responded similarly but plateaued by week 4 while the omega‐3 index was continuing to rise at week 16. The coefficient of variation of plasma PL EPA+DHA was greater (32%) than that of the omega‐3 index (22%) suggesting that the latter is a more stable marker. These findings suggest that omega‐3 FA provided as PL/triglycerides (fish) and as FA ethyl esters (capsules) have similar effects on plasma and erythrocyte membrane omega‐3 FA levels.