Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of participants, stratified according to their daily intake of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids
| EPA/DHA intake | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very low | Low | Medium | High | |
| No. of subjects | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 |
| No. of females | 25 | 31 | 34 | 32 |
| Educational level (primary/secondary school/university; n/n/n) | 32/13/18 | 40/13/10 | 35/11/17 | 29/12/22 |
| At 70 years | ||||
| Exact age | 70.1 ± 0.0 | 70.2 ± 0.0 | 70.2 ± 0.0 | 70.1 ± 0.0 |
| Intake of EPA/DHA (g/day) | 0.13 ± 0.01 | 0.30 ± 0.01 | 0.52 ± 0.01 | 0.98 ± 0.03 |
| Range of EPA/DHA intake (g/day) | 0.026–0.226 | 0.228–0.387 | 0.400–0.666 | 0.667–1.910 |
| Energy intake, KJ | 8057 ± 333 | 7665 ± 236 | 8076 ± 254 | 8230 ± 271 |
| BMI, in kg/m2 | 26.7 ± 0.5 | 26.0 ± 0.4 | 26.4 ± 0.5 | 26.7 ± 0.4 |
| Blood glucose levels, in mmol/L (A) | 4.95 ± 0.07 | 4.88 ± 0.05 | 4.83 ± 0.06 | 4.90 ± 0.06 |
| Blood insulin levels, in μg/dL (B) | 7.92 ± 0.52 | 8.58 ± 0.54 | 7.87 ± 0.78 | 7.65 ± 0.56 |
| HOMA-IR (A*B/22.5) | 1.77 ± 0.13 | 1.87 ± 0.12 | 1.57 ± 0.10 | 1.68 ± 0.13 |
| Serum LDL cholesterol, in mmol/L | 3.47 ± 0.13 | 3.41 ± 0.09 | 3.55 ± 0.09 | 3.55 ± 0.11 |
| Systolic blood pressure, in mmHg | 145 ± 3 | 144 ± 2 | 149 ± 3 | 146 ± 2 |
| Self-reported Physical activity (four levels) | 2.32 ± 0.10 | 2.29 ± 0.09 | 2.31 ± 0.10 | 2.28 ± 0.08 |
| At 75 years | ||||
| Exact age | 75.2 ± 0.0 | 75.3 ± 0.0 | 75.3 ± 0.0 | 75.3 ± 0.0 |
| Gray matter volume, ml | 574 ± 8 | 571 ± 9 | 565 ± 8 | 585 ± 7 |
| White matter volume, ml | 456 ± 6 | 438 ± 8 | 443 ± 8 | 447 ± 7 |
| TIV, ml | 1772 ± 16 | 1744 ± 19 | 1706 ± 20 | 1762 ± 19 |
| MMSE (max score 30) | 29.0 ± 0.1 | 28.8 ± 0.1 | 29.1 ± 0.1 | 29.1 ± 0.1 |
| Benton temporal orientation | 0.46 ± 0.19 | 0.54 ± 0.18 | 0.32 ± 0.07 | 0.38 ± 0.12 |
| Enhanced cued recall (max score 16) | 15.75 ± 0.09 | 15.68 ± 0.11 | 15.78 ± 0.07 | 15.87 ± 0.04 |
| Clock drawing (max score 7) | 6.4 ± 0.1 | 6.4 ± 0.1 | 6.5 ± 0.1 | 6.5 ± 0.1 |
| Verbal fluency (words per min) | 19.9 ± 0.7 | 20.1 ± 0.7 | 20.2 ± 0.6 | 21.9 ± 0.6 |
If not otherwise described, raw data are mean ± SEM. Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment (Wallace and Matthews 2002); LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; MMSE, mini-mental state examination (Folstein et al. 1975); TIV, total intracranial volume (i.e., the sum of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid)