A new study from Finland shows that a type of omega-3 fatty acid called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), found in fish oil, may not work the same way for everyone.
The results suggest that how our bodies process fats—our metabolism—plays a big role in how well EPA protects us from heart disease. The study was published in the medical journal JCI Insight.
EPA is already known to help people with high blood fat levels or heart disease by lowering their risk of serious problems. But scientists didn’t know much about how EPA affects healthy people, or how it spreads through the bloodstream.
To learn more, researchers gave high doses of EPA to 38 healthy adults and studied their blood before, during, and after they took the supplements.
They found that while EPA had clear effects on everyone, the way it worked was different for each person. According to Professor Katariina Öörni from the University of Helsinki, this shows that everyone has a unique pattern of fats in their blood—like a personal “lipid fingerprint.” Even after taking EPA, each person’s fingerprint stayed unique.
The study showed that EPA is quickly absorbed by the body and raises the amount of EPA in the blood by a lot. But once people stopped taking it, the EPA levels dropped again very quickly. People who started with low levels of EPA in their blood had the biggest response to the supplements.
One of the helpful effects of EPA is that it improves the fat profile in the blood and reduces the buildup of lipoproteins on artery walls. This is important because such buildup can lead to a condition called atherosclerosis, where arteries become hard and narrow, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Because the study lasted only a short time, we still don’t know what the long-term benefits or risks might be. However, the results show that even healthy people can see changes in their blood fats and heart disease risk factors after taking EPA.
They also show that EPA’s benefits fade quickly after stopping the supplement, which is useful to know if someone experiences side effects.
Lauri Äikäs, a doctoral researcher involved in the study, explained that these results highlight how important metabolism is in preventing heart disease. He also pointed out that the body’s response to EPA varied much more than expected from one person to another.
Next, the researchers plan to run lab tests on cells to see how EPA affects immune cells, especially the ones involved in inflammation. They are particularly interested in whether EPA increases the number of molecules that fight inflammation.
Professor Öörni added that it will also be interesting to learn how things like diet changes might affect each person’s unique fat fingerprint in the blood.
In summary, this study shows that while fish oil can have heart health benefits, how much it helps may depend on your personal metabolism. This research opens new doors for more personalized approaches to heart disease prevention in the future.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about why vitamin K is so important for older people, and this snack food may harm your heart rhythm.
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