In this new study, researchers at the University of Eastern Finland studied the combined effects of wholegrain, fish and bilberries on serum metabolic profile and lipid transfer protein activities in subjects with the metabolic syndrome.
For the study 131 participants aged 40 to 70 years, BMI 26–39 kg/m, with impaired glucose metabolism and features of the metabolic syndrome were randomized into three groups with 12-week periods. Participants consumed either a) wholegrain or low postprandial insulin response grain products, fatty fish 3 times a week, and bilberries 3 portions per day (healthy diet), b) wholegrain and low postprandial insulin response grain products (WGED), or c) refined wheat breads as cereal products (Control). Altogether 106 subjects completed the study.
The results showed there were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between the groups at baseline or at the end of the intervention. Significant changes in lipid metabolites were seen in the Healthy Diet group during the intervention compared to the Control group.
Positive changes in lipid metabolism were observed in persons, who increased their intake of fish most, consuming three to four fish meals per week. Participant s in the study consumed fatty fish such as salmon, rainbow trout, herring and vendace. No added butter or cream was used in the preparation of fish. The study does not provide answers to whether a similar effect would have been observed had the study participants mainly eaten low-fat fish such as zander and perch.
In conclusion the researchers write “increased fatty fish intake was associated with beneficially considered changes in HDL particles in persons at risk for coronary heart disease. The changes which we saw in large HDL particles could be related to those parameters that are functionally related to reverse cholesterol transport. Thus, our findings could partly explain the known protective effects of fish consumption against the atherosclerosis.”
Dietary intake for the Healthy Diet group was an average consumption 3.3 fish meals per week (67 g per day). Mostly used fish species were salmon, rainbow trout, vendace and Baltic herring. The average consumption of bilberries was 3.2 portions and breads 7.7 portions per day.
In the WGED group the average consumption of breads was 7.9 portions and average fish intake was 42 g per week.
For the control group the average consumption of breads was 6.8 portions and 16g of fish per day.
The researchers write “The results suggest that consumption of diet rich in whole grain, bilberries and especially fatty fish causes changes in HDL particles shifting their subclass distribution toward larger particles. These changes may be related to known protective functions of HDL such as reverse cholesterol transport and could partly explain the known protective effects of fish consumption against atherosclerosis.”
According to Maria Lankinen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, “People shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that if their standard lipid levels are OK, there’s no need to think about the diet, as things are a lot more complicated than that. Soft vegetable fats and fish are something to prefer in any case.”
Further information on the health effects of fish will become available in the near future as results from the Alfakala project carried out at the UEF Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition become available. The study takes a more detailed approach into the health effects of fish- and plant-derived omega-3 fatty acids, and it studies the health effects of fatty and low-fat fish.
Source: ED Treatment India
