UC San Diego

Background

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends consuming >1.75g/wk of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) through triglyceride reduction, however individual responses to treatment vary.

Objective

We sought to determine if a DGA-conforming diet (DGAD) can increase the omega-3 index (OM3I), a diet-sensitive biomarker of omega-3 fatty acid status, into a health promoting range and reduce fasting triglycerides in 8 weeks. We further explored determinants of the basal OM3I and its response to treatment.

Design

This is a secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind 8wk dietary intervention of overweight/obese women fed an 8d rotating DGAD (n =22) or typical American diet (TAD; n =20) registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02298725 . The DGAD and TAD provided individuals with 16 ± 2 g/wk and 1.2 ± 0.12 g/wk of eisocapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), respectively. Habitual diet and body composition were determined at baseline. OM3I, fasting triglycerides, glucose and insulin were measured at 0, 2 and 8wk.

Results

Baseline OM3I (5.8 ± 1.3; n =42) was positively correlated to the dietary (EPA+DHA):dietary fat ratio (p =0.006), negatively correlated to the android fat mass (p =0.0007) and was not different between diet groups. At 8wk, while the TAD-group average OM3I was unchanged (5.8 ± 0.76), the DGAD-group OM3I increased (7.33 ± 1.36; p <0.001). In the DGAD-group 9 of 22 (i.e. 41%) participants achieving an OM3I >8%. Subgroup analyses of the DGAD-group revealed that body fat content and distribution influenced the baseline-dependent response to treatment. Fasting triglyceride and OM3I changes did not correlate.

Conclusions

An 8wk TAD stabilized the OM3I in a healthy range, while a DGAD increased the OM3I into a health-promoting range, but did not reduce fasting triglycerides. Fat distribution and basal omega-3 status are primary factors influencing omega-3 efficacy in overweight/obese women.