Table 3 Blood fatty acids profile at baseline and at the end of the study in both groups
Fish oil group (n = 18) | P a | Placebo group (n = 19) | P a | P b | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial | Final | Initial | Final | ||||||||
Median | IQR | Median | IQR | Median | IQR | Median | IQR | ||||
Fatty acids | |||||||||||
Saturated | 58.7 | 50.4–63.5 | 58.4 | 50.6–64.4 | 0.863 | 52.2 | 49.1–60.7 | 55.2 | 48.9–59.1 | 0.601 | 0.857 |
Monounsaturated | 10.1 | 9.0–11.3 | 9.8 | 8.5–10.9 | 0.130 | 9.8 | 9.2–12.2 | 10.6 | 8.5–11.9 | 0.809 | 0.326 |
Polyunsaturated | 27.4 | 21.9–33.3 | 27.9 | 25.0–38.0 | 0.113 | 36.1 | 25.4–37.7 | 35.2 | 28.2–38.8 | 0.376 | 0.795 |
16:0 | 29.9 | 24.6–35.1 | 30.4 | 23.6–34.7 | 0.356 | 25.0 | 22.1–31.3 | 25.7 | 22.7–29.6 | 0.717 | 0.824 |
18:0 | 16.8 | 15.3–17.4 | 17.4 | 15.7–18.6 | 0.356 | 15.3 | 13.7–18.5 | 15.9 | 12.9–17.1 | 0.841 | 0.409 |
18:1n-9 | 4.3 | 3.5–5.2 | 4.4 | 3.7–5.8 | 0.943 | 5.2 | 4.5–6.5 | 5.1 | 4.4–6.5 | 0.629 | 0.525 |
20:4n-6 | 8.8 | 7.3–10.9 | 8.2 | 6.0–10.2 | 0.124 | 10.0 | 7.9–14.0 | 11.1 | 8.5–12.6 | 0.984 | 0.284 |
20:5n-3 (EPA) | 0.4 | 0.1–0.8 | 1.5 | 0.9–2.1 | 0.004 | 0.3 | 0.0–0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0–1.2 | 0.293 | 0.034 |
22:6n-3 (DHA) | 2.5 | 1.9–3.6 | 4.6 | 3.4–6.2 | 0.007 | 3.1 | 2.1–5.0 | 3.8 | 2.0–4.9 | 0.904 | 0.000 |
Total n-3 | 3.3 | 2.4–4.9 | 6.5 | 4.3–8.7 | 0.004 | 3.7 | 2.6–5.9 | 4.1 | 2.9–5.9 | 0.952 | 0.005 |
Total n-6 | 25.0 | 19.1–30.2 | 23.0 | 19.1–29.5 | 0.554 | 31.6 | 22.6–32.4 | 30.0 | 24.1–33.9 | 0.702 | 0.246 |
n-6:n-3 ratio | 7.7 | 5.3–9.7 | 3.8 | 3.0–4.7 | 0.002 | 7.0 | 4.5–11.1 | 6.8 | 4.4–8.8 | 0.904 | 0.012 |