A long-term seal- and cod-liver-oil supplementation in hypercholesterolemic subjects

In this long-term study, we wanted to explore the effect of dietary supplem entation of seal oil (SO) as compared cod-liver oil (CLO) on subjects with moderate hypercholesterolemia, The test parameters included fatty acid comp osition in serum, blood lipids, platelet aggregation, and the activity of b lood monocytes. After a run-in period of 6 mon, 120 clinically healthy hype rcholesterolemic (7.0-9.5 mmol/L; 270-366 mg/dL) subjects were randomly sel ected to consume either 15 mi of SO or CLO daily for 14 mon followed by a 4 -mon wash-out period. A third group was not given any dietary supplement (c ontrol). Consumption of marine oils (SO and CLO) changed the fatty acid com position of serum significantly. Maximal levels were achieved after 10 mon. No further changes were seen after 14 mon. A wash-out period of 4 mon hard ly altered the level of n-3 fatty acids in serum. Addition of SO gave 30% h igher level of eicosapentaenoic acid, as compared to CLO. Subjects taking S O or CLO had lower whole-blood platelet aggregation than the control group. Neither SO nor CLO had any effects on the levels of serum total cholestero l, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, postprandial triacylglycerol, apol ipoproteins A1 and B100, lipoprotein (a), monocyte function expressed as mo nocyte-derived tissue factor expression, and tumor necrosis factor.