EPA or DHA? Your gender may matter when it comes to Coronary Artery Disease prevention.

2013-07-24 10:45:45

The omega 3 fatty acids, EPA & DHA, have established themselves as essential fats for good health but have a number of therapeutic uses including in treating cardiovascular disease. Hundreds of clinical trials have shown their importance in this area. A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition is confirming what other studies have found in recent years, that the EPA component may be more important in reducing coronary artery disease in men while the DHA component may be more important in women.⁽¹⁾ They took 94 healthy men and women, not taking any omega 3 supplementation and consuming less than 2 servings of fish per week, and gave them either an EPA rich supplement (1000mgEPA: 200mg DHA), DHA rich supplement (200mg EPA: 1000mgDHA) or placebo for 4 weeks. Blood was tested for blood clotting proteins before and at the end of the study. Both the EPA and DHA groups saw a reduction in blood clotting compared to the placebo group, however when analyzed for gender, men had a larger reduction when in the EPA group than did the women while women had a larger reduction when in the DHA group. This is not the first study to show this relationship. Two clinical trials published in 2012 found the same relationship. ^{(2, 3)} In one of the studies, the researchers discovered an inverse relationship between testosterone and clotting after EPA supplementation. Although larger clinical trials are necessary to determine if these findings are statistically significant, it may necessary to tailor the EPA/DHA formula according to gender in order to achieve optimal prevention of coronary artery disease. We know for other conditions such as depression the EPA content is more important.⁽⁴⁾ There are many factors to consider when dosing omega-3 fatty acids appropriately. For general health promotion 1000mg of combined EPA + DHA each day gives you a good dose of these essential fatty acids.