[Lipid-lowering and anti-aggregating effect of low-dose therapy with fish oil]

Fifteen healthy volunteers were treated for 30 days with 5 g daily fish oil in capsule form (MaxEPA). After that time, serum triglycerides had decreased by a mean of 26% (p less than 0.05). This relative decrease in triglycerides was the larger the higher were the baseline levels before the start of therapy (p less than 0.01). Total cholesterol remained unchanged with fish oil. HDL-cholesterol showed a small mean increase by 12% (p less than 0.10). The rate of platelet aggregation after induction with collagen 1 microgram/ml was reduced after 30 days of therapy (p less than 0.05), while no effect on platelets was observed with collagen 5 micrograms/ml or ADP (0.5, 1 and 10 mumol/l) as aggregating agents. In vitro thromboxane synthesis after stimulation with collagen (1 microgram/ml) or arachidonic acid (1 mmol/l) was inhibited cumulatively by fish oil and, after 30 days, reached 56% (p less than 0.02) and 44% (p less than 0.05) of the initial values, respectively. Both the basal and prostaglandin E1 stimulated concentrations of c-AMP in platelet rich plasma remained uninfluenced. Thus, the ingestion of a low dose of fish oil by young and healthy subjects led to significant changes in serum triglycerides and platelet function.