Abstract
The use of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) as supplements has prompted
the development of concentrated formulations to overcome compliance problems. The
present study compares three concentrated preparations — ethyl esters, free fatty
acids and re-esterified triglycerides — with placebo oil in a double-blinded design,
and with fish body oil and cod liver oil in single-blinded arms. Seventy-two volunteers
were given approximately 3.3 g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) daily for 2 weeks.
Increases in absolute amounts of EPA and DHA in fasting serum triglycerides, cholesterol
esters and phospholipids were examined. Bioavailability of EPA+DHA from re-esterified
triglycerides was superior (124%) compared with natural fish oil, whereas the bioavailability
from ethyl esters was inferior (73%). Free fatty acid bioavailability (91%) did not
differ significantly from natural triglycerides. The stereochemistry of fatty acid
in acylglycerols did not influence the bioavailability of EPA and DHA.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 21, 2010
Accepted:
June 29,
2010
Received in revised form:
June 28,
2010
Received:
March 3,
2010
Footnotes
☆The main results have been previously published in the proceedings of a workshop at the 29th yearly meeting of The European Society for Clinical Investigation: n-3 Fatty acids: prevention and treatment in vascular disease. S.D. Kristensen, E.B. Schmidt, R. de Caterina, S. Endres (Eds). Springer Verlag, London, 1995
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© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
