The current study was designed to assess the usefulness of n-3 fatty acid (FA) rich shell egg consumption for mediating biochemical changes characteristic offish consumption. Specifically, the influence of consuming 4 eggs weekly from hens fed either flaxseed (FLAX), fish oil (FO), or a control diet (CON) on platelet aggregation and plasma phospholipids (PL) was investigated. Healthy volunteers (n=16 male; 16 female) consumed self-selected diets devoid of other n-3 fatty acid sources for six weeks The FLAX treatment provided 800 mg n-3 FA/wk, 65% as linolenic acid (LNA); FO provided 600 mg, 83% as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and CON provided 100 mg n-3 FA/wk, mainly as DHA At week 0 and week 6, platelet rich plasma (PRP) samples were stimulated with 0.75 g/ml collagen to assess aggregation and non-stimulated samples were collected for PL analysis. PRP samples were extracted and PL separated by thinlayer chromatography. The FA composition of phosphatidylcholine (PC) was determined using gas-liquid chromatography. There was no significant difference in platelet aggregation or plasma FA composition due to gender There was a trend (P <.09) for increased DHA in plasma PC, increasing from 1 55 at week 0 to 2 56 mole % at week 6 in response to FO but not FLAX Arachidonic acid in PC did not change in response to either n-3 FA treatment. Concomitant with increases in the DHA of PC a significant decrease in platelet aggregation was noted These results suggest that modest amounts of n-3 FA from enriched eggs may mediate the benefits associated with fish consumption. Support : TAES and NDAEs.
