| Summary: | Menopause is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and serum triacylglycerol concentrations are an important CVD risk factor in women. The use of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) therapy in postmenopausal women may be particularly beneficial due to their ability to lower fasting serum triacylglycerol concentrations. The effect of n-3 PUFA supplementation in postmenopausal women while controlling for the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has not been investigated previously. In this study, the effects of n-3 PUFA therapies on serum lipids and lipoproteins of postmenopausal women were investigated in 28-day interventions periods. Triacylglycerol concentrations were decreased by 26% in the women supplemented with a fish oil concentrate providing 2.4 g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 1.6 g of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) each day, and 20% in women supplemented with an algal DHA oil concentrate providing 2.8 g of DHA and no EPA each day. There were no differences in the responses between women receiving and not receiving HRT. Serum triacylglycerol:HDL cholesterol, a risk predictor of myocardial infarction, was reduced by 28% with both fish oil and DHA supplementation. Also, HDL cholesterol levels increased by 8% and heart rate decreased by 7% with DHA only supplementation. Fish oil concentrate supplementation of Canadian women resulted in an increase in EPA and DHA levels and lowered linoleic acid levels to levels similar to those of Greenland Inuit. Arachidonic acid levels remained higher in the Canadians. Comparisons of fatty acid compositions of premenopausal women and postmenopausal women receiving and not receiving HRT revealed apparent influences of HRT on n-3 PUFA levels. These influences were investigated further by examining EPA and DHA levels before and after supplementation with DHA, and estimating the retroconversion of DHA to EPA. The EPA rise was significantly smaller in women receiving HRT (41%) than in women not receiving HRT (59%). Supplementation with n-3 ...
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