Comparison of the increment in plasma eicosapentaenoate concentrations by fish oil intake between young and middle-aged volunteers

The effect of age on eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5 n-3; EPA) incorporation into plasma lipids was investigated in young volunteers (8 males, 19 +/- 1 yr) and middle-aged volunteers (6 males, 53 +/- 7 yr). They were asked to take 5.4 g fish oil per day for one week. The increment in EPA in the cholesteryl ester fraction after the supplementation was significantly greater in the middle-aged group (delta = 1.69%) than in the young group (delta = 0.44%) (p less than 0.05). The food intake analyzed for 3 consecutive days just before the supplementation revealed that the young group took more linoleate (17 vs. 10 g) than the middle-aged group. There was a significant inverse correlation between the increment in EPA in the cholesteryl ester fraction after the supplementation and daily linoleate intake among all the volunteers combined (r = -0.63, p less than 0.02). The higher increment in EPA in cholesteryl ester in the middle-aged group might be due to less intake of linoleate and not due to the difference in age itself.