3. Results
Pretreatment values are given in Table 1. There were no differences among the groups.
EPA, as % of detected fatty acids, in plasma increased from 1.440.13 before treatment
to 2.300.31 percent after 2 weeks (p0.05) and to 2.670.40 (p0.01) percent after 4
weeks of intake of bread containing fish oil (Fig. 1). DHA increased from 5.550.39 to
6.400.36 percent (p0.05) after 4 weeks (Fig. 1). Total omega-3 fatty acids in plasma
phospholipids showed an increase from 9.160.44 to 10.470.72 percent (p0.05) after 2
weeks and further increased to 11.460.77 percent (p0.01) after 4 weeks. The fatty acids
did not change after intake of the control bread, either bread with oat fibre or wheat fibre.
HDL-cholesterol increased from 1.330.19 to 1.470.20 mmol/L after 4 weeks of intake
of bread containing fish oil (p0.01), but there was no change after intake of the control
bread (Fig. 2). Triglycerides in plasma decreased from 2.350.33 to 1.930.26 mmol/L
(p0.05) after 2 weeks and further decreased to 1.830.26 mmol/L after 4 weeks (p0.05).
No significant differences were found in the oat fibre and wheat fibre control groups
(Table 2). Total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol showed no significant changes in any of the
groups.
The plasma MDA value did not increase after intake of the fish oil bread, indicating that
the stable fish oil did not induce any lipid peroxidation. On the contrary, the MDA value was
slightly, but significantly, decreased after intake of the fish oil bread, and also after intake of
the control oat fibre bread (Fig. 3)