Fish Oil–Derived Fatty Acids, Docosahexaenoic Acid and Docosapentaenoic Acid, and the Risk of Acute Coronary Events

Abstract

Background-Previous findings concerning the serum levels of fish-derived (n-3) fatty acids and coronary heart disease are inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the serum n-3 end-product fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and eicosapentaenoic acid and the risk of acute coronary events in middle-aged men. Methods and Results-We studied this association in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, a prospective population study in Eastern Finland. Subjects were randomly selected and included 1871 men aged 42 to 60 years who had no clinical coronary heart disease at baseline examination. A total of 194 men had a fatal or nonfatal acute coronary event during follow-up. In a Cox proportional hazards' model adjusting for other risk factors, men in the highest fifth of the proportion of serum DHAϩDPA in all fatty acids had a 44% reduced risk (Pϭ0.014) of acute coronary events compared with men in the lowest fifth. Men in the highest fifth of DHAϩDPA who had a low hair content of mercury (Յ2.0 g/g) had a 67% reduced risk (Pϭ0.016) of acute coronary events compared with men in the lowest fifth who had a high hair content of mercury (Ͼ2.0 g/g). There was no association between proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid and the risk of acute coronary events. Conclusions-Our data provide further confirmation for the concept that fish oil-derived fatty acids reduce the risk of acute coronary events. However, a high mercury content in fish could attenuate this protective effect. (Circulation.

Relationship between fish intake, n-3 fatty acids, mercury and risk markers of CHD (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2002)

“…The average DHA 1 EPA intake in our study (0?1 g/d) was much lower in comparison to that of other studies. Our results agree with other studies which have shown that fish intake or markers of fish intake (plasma PUFA) do not significantly impact LDL-C or TC levels (17,23) . The 24 h calculated DHA 1 EPA intake in our study was also less than the American Heart Association (AHA) recommendation (at least 0?5-1?0 g of n-3 fatty acids daily to achieve cardioprotective effects), which may explain the lack of association in the models where HDL-C, LDL-C and TC were the independent variables (24) .…”

Comparison of Seal Oil to Tuna Oil on Plasma Lipid Levels and Blood Pressure in Hypertriglyceridaemic Subjects

“…Furthermore, the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study showed that the men with the highest quintile of serum DHA plus DPA (>3.58% of total fatty acids) had a 44% reduced risk of acute coronary events compared with men in the lowest quintile (<2.38% of total fatty acids), and there were no associations with EPA levels (6). The significance was due to DHA plus DPA, not just DHA alone.…”

Dietary intake of n-3, n-6 fatty acids and fish: Relationship with hostility in young adults—the CARDIA study

“…A growing body of literature supports a protective role of fish intake and of essential dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in cardiovascular disease (Dolecek & Granditis, 1991;Ascherio et al, 1995;Daviglus et al, 1997;Hopper et al, 1999;Oomen et al, 2000;Rissanen et al, 2000;Hallgren et al, 2001;Iso et al, 2001;Yuan et al, 2001) including a reduction of the risk of sudden cardiac death (Siscovick et al, 1995;Albert et al, 1998). There are several potential mechanisms for this protection including antithrombotic (Kristensen et al, 1989;Prisco et al, 1995) and anti-arrhythmic effects (Marchioli et al, 2002), decreased heart rate variability (Christensen et al, 1997) and resting blood pressure (Knapp, 1989), decreased serum LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations (Agren et al, 1996) and increased insulin sensitivity (Torjesen et al, 1997;Mori et al, 1999).…”