Table 2.

Proportion of fatty acids (mol%) in plasma, by treatment arm.¹

	Placebo (n=8)				EPA 1 g/d (n=12)				EPA 2g/d (n=11)				EPA 4 g/d (n=10)
	Wk0	Wk4	Wk8	Wk12	Wk0	Wk4	Wk8	Wk12	Wk0	Wk4	Wk8	Wk12	Wk0	Wk4	Wk8	Wk12
SFA
12:0	0.75 (1.16)	0.62 (1.13)	0.60 (0.40)	0.73 (0.37)	0.68 (1.27)	0.68 (0.83)	0.60 (0.62)	0.50 (0.10)	0.54 (1.19)	0.54 (0.49)	0.53 (0.18)	0.59 (0.62)	0.77 (1.25)	0.54 (0.46)	0.55 (0.55)	0.55 (0.45)
14:0	2.99 (1.03)	2.83 (2.03)	3.01 (1.29)	3.17 (1.05)	2.08 (1.13)	2.66 (1.53)	2.75 (1.71)	2.31 (1.54)	2.39 (1.28)	2.19 (0.63)	1.90 (0.53)	1.81 (0.76)	3.40 (1.67)	3.40 (1.56)	3.08 (0.97)	3.00 (1.33)
15:0	1.23 (1.09)	1.07 (1.10)	1.47 (1.90)	1.76 (0.78)	1.16 (0.81)	1.47 (1.58)	1.68 (1.33)	1.32 (0.76)	1.11 (0.72)	1.10 (0.22)	0.96 (0.46)	0.98 (0.93)	1.77 (0.67)	2.16 (1.16)	1.61 (0.70)	1.39 (0.88)
16:0	16.3 (1.6)	15.5 (3.1)	17.7 (3.0)	16.1 (3.2)	16.9 (2.1)	18.3 (3.0)	17.6 (3.1)	17.0 (2.6)	17.3 (3.2)	19.4 (1.2)	16.7 (3.3)	18.3 (1.9)	16.9 (6.1)	19.0 (5.4)	17.7 (3.3)	17.0 (1.0)
17:0	0.94 (0.80)	1.05 (0.71)	1.18 (1.06)	1.13 (0.63)	1.03 (0.65)	1.19 (0.80)	1.23 (0.68)	1.12 (0.48)	1.11 (0.47)	0.98 (0.73)	0.98 (0.23)	0.97 (0.51)	1.26 (1.38)	1.26 (1.52)	1.25 (1.05)	1.22 (1.00)
18:0	11.6 (0.8)	11.7 (3.1)	12.7 (1.4)	12.2 (1.6)	13.1 (5.3)	12.0 (1.8)	13.2 (5.3)	11.9 (4.3)	13.2 (5.6)	11.8 (2.9)	12.2 (3.1)	11.9 (3.6)	12.8 (3.7)	11.4 (2.0)	11.4 (2.2)	11.8 (2.9)
20:0	0.19 (0.11)	0.19 (0.09)	0.27 (0.16)	0.22 (0.08)	0.25 (0.19)	0.21 (0.16)	0.31 (0.21)	0.22 (0.26)	0.28 (0.16)	0.23 (0.27)	0.23 (0.10)	0.21 (0.16)	0.29 (0.28)	0.21 (0.25)	0.22 (0.21)	0.25 (0.29)
22:0	0.08 (0.06)	0.07 (0.06)	0.10 (0.10)	0.08 (0.03)	0.10 (0.13)	0.09 (0.11)	0.13 (0.12)	0.09 (0.13)	0.10 (0.09)	0.08 (0.14)	0.09 (0.04)	0.11 (0.13)	0.12 (0.16)	0.10 (0.16)	0.13 (0.12)	0.10 (0.12)
24:0	0.19 (0.10)	0.12 (0.16)	0.23 (0.09)	0.17 (0.10)	0.22 (0.33)	0.20 (0.24)	0.23 (0.29)	0.19 (0.21)	0.27 (0.24)	0.14 (0.19)	0.17 (0.08)	0.20 (0.36)	0.24 (0.32)	0.21 (0.26)	0.15 (0.22)	0.23 (0.16)
26:0	0.05 (0.02)	0.03 (0.06)	0.06 (0.03)	0.04 (0.01)	0.05 (0.08)	0.06 (0.07)	0.06 (0.10)	0.04 (0.05)	0.07 (0.08)	0.03 (0.03)	0.04 (0.02)	0.04 (0.08)	0.08 (0.08)	0.07 (0.07)	0.03 (0.08)	0.06 (0.06)
MUFA
16:1 n-7	3.07 (1.14)	3.11 (1.60)	2.64 (1.08)	2.35 (0.96)	2.62 (1.20)	2.07 (1.17)	2.16 (1.48)	1.90 (0.99)	1.80 (0.62)	1.81 (0.90)	1.42 (0.83)	1.73 (1.06)	2.38 (1.20)	1.61 (1.59)	1.58 (0.36)	1.53 (0.89)
17:1 n-7	0.26 (0.06)	0.25 (0.12)	0.28 (0.19)	0.25 (0.12)	0.24 (0.10)	0.25 (0.10)	0.22 (0.15)	0.24 (0.08)	0.23 (0.09)	0.20 (0.06)	0.17 (0.05)	0.21 (0.17)	0.28 (0.13)	0.25 (0.13)	0.22 (0.06)	0.24 (0.11)
18:1 n-9	12.1 (1.0)	12.3 (2.4)	12.1 (0.6)	12.1 (1.0)	12.1 (1.8)	10.7 (2.3)	10.8 (1.0)	11.3 (2.8)	11.4 (3.2)	11.2 (3.2)	11.3 (3.6)	11.0 (1.9)	12.5 (2.2)	10.7 (1.7)	11.3 (0.8)	11.2 (2.5)
20:1 n-9	0.12 (0.04)	0.15 (0.06)	0.12 (0.04)	0.16 (0.07)	0.12 (0.07)	0.10 (0.07)	0.14 (0.07)	0.11 (0.07)	0.13 (0.08)	0.08 (0.10)	0.11 (0.04)	0.12 (0.07)	0.15 (0.08)	0.10 (0.04)	0.10 (0.06)	0.09 (0.05)
PUFA
20:3 n-9	0.60 (0.05)	0.62 (0.20)	0.56 (0.14)	0.63 (0.24)	0.60 (0.31)	0.47 (0.25)	0.38 (0.17)	0.42 (0.10)	0.65 (0.29)	0.45 (0.19)	0.47 (0.21)	0.41 (0.18)	0.63 (0.31)	0.30 (0.14)	0.35 (0.19)	0.30 (0.29)
18:2 n-6	23.1 (4.7)	22.6 (5.6)	22.8 (2.4)	21.5 (5.2)	24.1 (7.0)	22.2 (4.0)	21.0 (3.6)	21.8 (6.9)	23.6 (6.7)	20.6 (3.8)	22.8 (3.7)	21.9 (7.0)	21.5 (7.4)	16.8 (4.7)	17.3 (3.0)	19.9 (6.3)
18:3 n-6 + n-3	0.49 (0.09)	0.55 (0.10)	0.43 (0.08)	0.44 (0.15)	0.31 (0.08)	0.37 (0.18)	0.30 (0.12)	0.31 (0.21)	0.37 (0.24)	0.29 (0.14)	0.25 (0.08)	0.26 (0.18)	0.31 (0.20)	0.21 (0.16)	0.20 (0.19)	0.32 (0.13)
20:2 n-6	0.27 (0.07)	0.28 (0.09)	0.24 (0.04)	0.30 (0.08)	0.28 (0.09)	0.23 (0.08)	0.26 (0.11)	0.27 (0.06)	0.33 (0.09)	0.24* (0.14)	0.26 (0.12)	0.24 (0.08)	0.28 (0.14)	0.18* (0.05)	0.19 (0.10)	0.22 (0.09)
20:3 n-6	1.92 (0.29)	1.75 (0.34)	1.67 (0.40)	1.78 (0.24)	1.84 (0.63)	1.51 (0.29)	1.53 (0.46)	1.68 (0.36)	1.73 (0.44)	1.65 (0.57)	1.57 (0.24)	1.39 (0.50)	1.76 (0.81)	1.26 (0.64)	1.37 (0.20)	1.33 (0.45)
20:4 n-6	11.2 (1.6)	10.1 (2.0)	10.0 (2.0)	10.9 (1.7)	11.4 (4.2)	9.2 (2.2)	9.1 (2.8)	10.1 (1.8)	9.4 (3.8)	8.2 (3.3)	9.4 (3.5)	9.0 (3.9)	10.9 (5.2)	7.7 (2.9)	8.1 (2.5)	8.8 (3.3)
22:4 n-6	0.19 (0.05)	0.20 (0.11)	0.15 (0.10)	0.20 (0.08)	0.17 (0.11)	0.10 (0.07)	0.12 (0.06)	0.11 (0.07)	0.13 (0.06)	0.06 (0.07)	0.07 (0.04)	0.07 (0.09)	0.15 (0.10)	0.04 (0.05)	0.06 (0.07)	0.08 (0.10)
22:5 n-6	0.23 (0.13)	0.23 (0.10)	0.19 (0.13)	0. 22 (0.06)	0.21 (0.08)	0.15* (0.11)	0.13 (0.21)	0.18 (0.08)	0.19 (0.07)	0.15 (0.14)	0.17 (0.14)	0.18 (0.08)	0.20 (0.12)	0.17 (0.10)	0.18 (0.09)	0.24†¶ (0.06)
18:4 n-3	0.08 (0.07)	0.07 (0.06)	0.06 (0.03)	0.07 (0.04)	0.02 (0.02)	0.04 (0.05)	0.05* (0.04)	0.04 (0.03)	0.02 (0.06)	0.06 (0.05)	0.04 (0.05)	0.04 (0.06)	0.02 (0.03)	0.07 (0.11)	0.11 (0.06)	0.10 (0.06)
20:5 n-3	0.55 (0.31)	0.51 (0.14)	0.48 (0.11)	0.51 (0.20)	0.43 (0.27)	1.39* (1.34)	1.24* (0.94)	1.89* (1.21)	0.48 (0.40)	2.77*† (2.03)	2.30*† (2.26)	2.43* (1.87)	0.32 (0.19)	4.14*¶ (2.21)	4.14*† (1.52)	3.62*†¶ (3.28)
22:5 n-3	0.44 (0.19)	0.43 (0.20)	0.39 (0.14)	0.42 (0.23)	0.37 (0.15)	0.44 (0.36)	0.46* (0.42)	0.60 (0.40)	0.36 (0.20)	0.76* (0.29)	0.86*† (0.22)	0.75* (0.50)	0.31 (0.25)	0.77* (0.21)	0.82* (0.37)	0.82* (0.54)
22:6 n-3	8.5 (3.6)	7.1 (2.3)	7.2 (2.6)	8.6 (1.8)	7.9 (2.4)	9.7 (2.3)	10.0 (3.4)	10.7* (2.4)	9.4 (4.8)	12.7*† (5.1)	11.8* (3.0)	10.4 (4.6)	6.0 (3.1)	11.5*† (5.1)	12.8*† (6.3)	11.8*†¶ (6.4)

¹median (interquartile range).

SFA, saturated fatty acids; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids

Bold numbers indicate statistical significance, relative to week 0, within each arm as determined by Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests (unadjusted p<0.05).

Within each time-point (week 0, 4, 8 and 12), the difference among arms was assessed by pairwise Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney tests with the Benjamini-Horchberg adjustment for multiple comparisons;

^*P<0.05 versus placebo;

^†P<0.05 versus 1 g/d;

^¶P<0.05, versus 2 g/d.