Effect of ALA-enriched food supply on cardiovascular risk factors in males

The outcome of a total dietary approach using a wide range of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) enriched food items on cardiovascular diseases called for further investigation. The study objective was to assess the effect of an ALA-enriched food supply on cardiovascular risk factors in healthy males. A dietary intervention (single-blind field trial with pre- and post-measurements) was performed with 59 healthy males in a Belgian prison. Over a period of 12 weeks they were supplied with an n-3 enriched diet (containing 6.5 g n-3 PUFA/day compared to 4 g n-3 PUFA/day in the standard diet) that was substituted for their regular diet, increasing mainly the alpha-linolenic acid intake (from 2.8 to around 5 g/day). The results indicated no impact on subjects waist circumference, weight and BMI or systolic blood pressure. In contrast, the diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased during the intervention period (from 74.6 +/- 8.2 to 71.7 +/- 10.1 mmHg; P < 0.02). Moreover, the HDL-cholesterol level increased in non-smoking participants (from 0.97 +/- 0.25 to 1.06 +/- 0.23 mmol/l; P < 0.03). In summary, the study demonstrated that enrichment of commonly eaten food items with n-3 fatty acids provides the opportunity to increase the n-3 fatty acid intake and to decrease the n-6/n-3 ratio which results in a decreasing diastolic blood pressure and an increase of HDL-cholesterol (in non-smokers).