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The Journal of Nutrition

One omega-3 in body fat linked to lower bleeding stroke risk

A relative risk measure was 0.64 for the highest versus lowest fifth of eicosapentaenoic acid in body fat over a median 21 years.

Paper by Johanne Havskov Thygesen, Villads Bové Hesislev, Phillip Czerwonka, 6 more authorsChristian Bork
Figure 1 from The Journal of Nutrition
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Figure 1. Thygesen et al.
Cohort study of 54,546 peoplePopulations

Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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An observational case-cohort study followed 54,546 Danish men and women aged 50 to 65 at enrollment for a median of 21 years. Researchers analyzed omega-3 fats in body-fat samples from all 729 hemorrhagic stroke cases and a randomly selected subgroup of 4,615 participants. Hemorrhagic strokes involve bleeding in or around the brain.

For eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega-3 fat, the highest fifth had a hazard ratio of 0.64 versus the lowest fifth. This measure compared relative stroke risk over follow-up. The association was similar in men and women. Alpha-linolenic acid, another omega-3 fat, showed the opposite association: the highest fifth had a hazard ratio of 1.32 versus the lowest fifth.

Why it matters

For cardiovascular health in later life, the question is whether individual omega-3 fats have different associations with stroke involving bleeding.

Caveats

This observational study cannot establish cause and effect or show whether omega-3 supplements alter stroke risk. The findings came from Danish adults aged 50 to 65 at enrollment and may not apply to other populations.

Where the evidence stands

Eicosapentaenoic acid

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

No results posted: trials that ended over a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper reporting them.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

  • 31 independent labs in 10 countries
  • 29 trials, 8 with no results posted
  • Funders: National Institutes of Health and others
  • 10 of 51 findings with company ties
  • 1 of 29 trials sponsored by its developers

Alpha-linolenic acid

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

No results posted: trials that ended over a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper reporting them.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

  • 17 independent labs in 9 countries
  • 3 trials, 1 with no results posted
  • Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others
  • 1 of 42 findings with company ties

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