Effects of Marine Omega-3 Supplementation on Fatty Acids and Bioactive Lipids and Associations With Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Secondary Analysis From the Randomized …

Introduction: Omega-3 fatty acid [n-3 FA] supplementation may protect against incident cardiovascular disease [CVD] but the potential mechanisms are unclear. Here, we examined effects of randomized n-3 treatment on downstream fatty acids (FAs) and bioactive lipids. Methods: VITAL is a recently completed randomized double-blind trial of n-3 supplement (1 g/d EPA+DHA) vs placebo among 25,871 individuals for primary prevention of CVD. VITAL200 is a nested substudy (n=200) balanced on demographic variables and treatment. More than 800 FAs and bioactive lipids from plasma or red blood cells were measured at baseline and year 1 across three independent platforms. Significant associations with n-3 treatment from VITAL200 were validated with n-3 nutritional intake in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS, n=2479). We analyzed associations of bioactive lipids with clinical lipid and inflammatory biomarkers …