According to a study from the University of Georgia, fish oil supplements may help people who are genetically prone to high cholesterol by lowering LDL, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, making them a potential strategy for managing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Research has shown that omega-3 supplements can lower the genetic likelihood of elevated cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides.
Fish oil supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. and worldwide, with roughly 2 in 25 people taking this popular omega-3 capsule.
The new University of Georgia study may also encourage new groups of people to consider supplements, such as those who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol.
Using genetic data from more than 441,000 participants, the researchers calculated scores that predict the genetic likelihood of high levels of total cholesterol, high LDL cholesterol (often referred to as “bad” cholesterol), triglycerides, and HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol).
“Recent advances in genetic research have allowed us to predict genetic risk for high cholesterol,” says Itan Sun, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Georgia’s Department of Genetics, “but current predictions have room for improvement because they don’t take into account individual differences in lifestyle, such as taking fish oil supplements.”
The researchers found that participants who reported taking fish oil supplements had lower than expected blood lipid levels, particularly total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
Significance of the study
“Our study shows that taking lifestyle factors into account improves genetic prediction,” said Kai-Xiong Ye, assistant professor of genetics at the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Letters and Science and corresponding author of the study. “Our findings also support that fish oil supplements may counteract a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol.”
Fish oil counteracts the effects of a family history of high cholesterol. We all know that high cholesterol is bad for you. It starts to harden your arteries, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke. While a healthy diet and exercise can help prevent it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 86 million American adults, or about 1 in 4, have high cholesterol.
“Millions more people are at risk of developing high cholesterol due to a variety of factors, including genetic factors over which they have no control. For those with a family history of high cholesterol, the findings point to new possibilities for protecting their health.”
“Fish oil intake can help shift people toward a healthier lipid profile,” Ye says.
The researchers also analyzed the effects of fish oil on HDL cholesterol and found that the supplement was beneficial in increasing so-called “good” cholesterol.
Reference: “Fish oil supplements alter the association between genetically predicted and observed blood lipids: a cross-sectional study of gene-diet interactions in the UK Biobank” Yitang Sun, Tryggvi McDonald, Abigail Baur, Huifang Xu, Naveen Brahman Bateman, Ye Shen, Changwei Li, Kaixiong Ye, 15 July 2024, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.07.009
