Circulating Levels Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA, DHA) Decline During Aging

[Mike Lustgarten]

 

[Ron Put]

Hm, a quick look at the centenarians study shows that not just the centenarians, but also their offspring show plasma concentrations that are multiple times lower than the values being pushed by industry.

Even for the offspring, EPA of 1.32 and DHA of 1.12 would place them in the "just about to keel over" category based on industry standards in the US.

As to the meta-analysis, I can't tell if it's good or bad, as I don't have details such as inclusion/exclusion criteria and adjustments. But based on the conflict, many of the authors appear to have a horse in this race.

None of this makes much sense based on population studies, as fish consumption is generally very low to practically none in Blue Zones, and whatever consumption there is does not include the large fatty fish being promoted by industry. Thus, I remain highly dubious of the industry claims that humans live longer if their DHA and EPA plasma concentrations are higher.

[Mike Lustgarten]

The EPA and DHA data for the centenarians and offspring aren't in uM, but are relative values because an untargeted metabolomic approach was used in that study. That's mentioned in the video.

[Ron Put]

1 hour ago, Mike Lustgarten said:

The EPA and DHA data for the centenarians and offspring aren't in uM, but are relative values because an untargeted metabolomic approach was used in that study. That's mentioned in the video.

I missed the "relative circulating values," thanks for clarifying.

But still, how do these relative circulating values compare to those who are not exceptionally long-lived?

I would think it's relevant, since again, Blue Zone populations do not consume fish in significant quantities, and if I remember Italy and Greece both score significantly lower on the Omega-3 index than places like Russia and Nigeria, which makes no sense to me.

See also this:

Association Between Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation and Risk of Major Cardiovascular Disease Events: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis | Cardiology | JAMA | JAMA Network

Edited July 26, 2023 by Ron Put

[Mike Lustgarten]

No worries Ron. I'm not surprised by the fish oil study, as most supplements are worthless. That said, outside of diet, there may be mechanisms that lead to greater EPA and DHA degradation during aging, thereby reducing circulating levels, which would be bad for mortality risk. Would eating more fish fix that? Maybe not, but by paying attention to circulating levels and what may impact them (outside of fish intake), slowing or preventing the age-related decline may be important.