Omega-3 index and blood pressure responses to eating foods naturally enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Diets low in seafood omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are very prevalent. Such diets have recently been ranked as the sixth most important dietary risk factor—1.5 million deaths and 33 million disability-adjusted life-years worldwide are attributable to this deficiency. Wild oily fish stocks are insufficient to feed the world’s population, and levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in farmed fish have more than halved in the last 20 years. Here we report on a double-blinded, controlled trial, where 161 healthy normotensive adults were randomly allocated to eat at least three portions/week of omega-3-PUFA enriched (or control) chicken-meat, and to eat at least three omega-3-PUFA enriched (or control) eggs/week, for 6 months. We show that regular consumption of omega-3-PUFA enriched chicken-meat and eggs significantly increased the primary outcome, the red cell omega-3 index (mean difference [98.75% confidence interval] from the group that ate both control foods, 1.7% [0.7, 2.6]). Numbers of subjects with a very high-risk omega-3 index (index < 4%) were more than halved amongst the group that ate both enriched foods. Furthermore, eating the enriched foods resulted in clinically relevant reductions in diastolic blood pressure (− 3.1 mmHg [− 5.8, − 0.3]). We conclude that chicken-meat and eggs, naturally enriched with algae-sourced omega-3-PUFAs, may serve as alternative dietary sources of these essential micronutrients. Unlike many lifestyle interventions, long-term population health benefits do not depend on willingness of individuals to make long-lasting difficult dietary changes, but on the availability of a range of commonly eaten, relatively inexpensive, omega-3-PUFA enriched foods.

Dietary Interventions Reduce Traditional and Novel Cardiovascular Risk Markers by Altering the Gut Microbiome and Their Metabolites

“…For example, the observed drops in blood pressure parameters in our study may be indicative of random fluctuation over time, a possibility that we are unable to exclude because due to the absence of a placebo arm. We can therefore not assume any causal links with the dietary intervention, although drops in blood pressure (specifically DBP) has also been previously reported amongst normotensive adults show significant drops in DBS following a diet enriched with omega 3 ( 50 ). Furthermore, a lack of the placebo arm with no effects on the gut microbiome and participants were not blinded.…”

Attitudes and Preferences of Consumers Towards Functional Foods Enriched with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

“…Blood levels of EPA+DHA are variable across the globe, with most of the countries and regions of the world having levels that are considered low to very low (Stark et al, 2016;Stanton et. al, 2020).…”

“…Very low bloods levels observed for Turkey might associate with an increased risk in cardiovascular related mortality. Therefore, efforts are needed to increase the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids either by natural sources/supplements or foods enriched with omega-3 fatty acids (Stanton et. al, 2020).…”

Supercharging your supper

“…The omega 3 index is a way of expressing whether people are in a high risk category (low circulating levels of EPA and DHA) or in a low risk category (high circulating levels of EPA and DHA). The number of people in the high risk category halved after just six months of eating omega 3‐enriched chicken and eggs8. Scaled up to the global level, the effects of moving swathes of people from high risk to low risk represents a potentially huge economic saving.…”