Study population
Seventeen volunteers with a mean age of 40 years (range 25-69 years) participated. Nine volunteers
were given bread containing fish oil and the other 8 bread containing margarine for 4 weeks.
Some population characteristics and pretreatment values of these two participating groups are shown
in Table 1.
Persons with alcohol abuse were excluded. All participating subjects were instructed not to change
their diets during the experimental period. The bread was used instead of ordinary bread and was
thus not administered on top of the ordinary diet.
The subjects were asked to record and report any significant changes in their diet and their way of
living. Before the blood sampling, the subjects fasted for 10 hours. They were instructed to refrain
from alcohol consumption for two days, vigorous physical activity for one day and use of
acetylsalicylic acid or similar medication for at least one week before the sampling. Blood was
sampled at about 08:OO in order to minimize the effect of any diurnal variation. Informed consent
was obtained and the study was approved by the local ethics committee.