Abstract
BackgroundThe importance of arachidonic acid (ARA) among the elderly has recently gained increased attention. The effects of ARA supplementation in the elderly are not fully understood, although ARA is considered to be associated with various diseases. We investigate whether ARA supplementation to Japanese elderly subjects affects clinical parameters involved in cardiovascular, inflammatory, and allergic diseases. We also examine the levels of ARA metabolites such as prostanoids during intervention.MethodsWe conducted a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled parallel group intervention trial. ARA-enriched oil (240 or 720 mg ARA per day) or placebo was administered to Japanese healthy men and women aged 55-70 years for 4 weeks followed by a 4-week washout period. The fatty acid contents of plasma phospholipids, clinical parameters, and ARA metabolites were determined at baseline, 2, 4, and 8 weeks.ResultsThe ARA content in plasma phospholipids in the ARA-administrated groups increased dose-dependently and was almost the same at 2 weeks and at 4 weeks. The elevated ARA content decreased to nearly baseline during a 4-week washout period. During the supplementation and washout periods, no changes were observed in eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid contents. There were no changes in clinical blood parameters related to cardiovascular, inflammatory and allergic diseases. ARA supplementation did not alter the level of ARA metabolites such as urinary 11-dehydro thromboxane B2, 2,3-dinor-6-keto prostaglandin (PG) F1α and 9,15-dioxo-11α-hydroxy-13,14-dihydro-2,3,4,5-tetranor-prostan-1,20-dioic acid (tetranor-PGEM), and plasma PGE2 and lipoxin A4. ARA in plasma phospholipids was not correlated with ARA metabolite levels in the blood or urine.ConclusionThese results indicate that ARA supplementation, even at a relatively high dose, does not increase ARA metabolites, and suggest that it does not induce cardiovascular, inflammatory or allergic diseases in Japanese elderly individuals.
Highlights
The importance of arachidonic acid (ARA) among the elderly has recently gained increased attention
These results suggest that age or gender of participants has little effect of ARA supplementation on the increase in plasma ARA content
The results suggest that the plasma ARA content increases dose-dependently with ARA up to at least around 800 mg/day
Summary
The importance of arachidonic acid (ARA) among the elderly has recently gained increased attention. The effects of ARA supplementation in the elderly are not fully understood, ARA is considered to be associated with various diseases. We investigate whether ARA supplementation to Japanese elderly subjects affects clinical parameters involved in cardiovascular, inflammatory, and allergic diseases. ARA is synthesized in the body from dietary linoleic acid (LA) and most adults consume 50-250 mg/day of ARA from foodstuffs [1,2,3]. The consumption of ARA in breast milk is very important for infant development since the activity from LA conversion to ARA is low in infant [4]. The conversion of LA to ARA declines with age [5], and the importance of ARA supplementation among the elderly has recently gained increased attention. It has been reported that supplementation with ARA among the elderly improves cognitive response [6] and coronary flow velocity reserve [7] and some animal studies support these findings [8,9,10,11]
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