Reduction of Plasma Lipids, Lipoproteins, and Apoproteins by Dietary Fish Oils in Patients with Hypertriglyceridemia

THE low incidence of coronary heart disease and thrombosis in Greenland Eskimos has stimulated interest in the possible protective nature of their unusual diet.^{1 2 3 4 5} Traditionally, most of their food has consisted of seal, whale, and fish. Although these marine animals do have a high cholesterol and fat content, their fat is unique in that it contains large quantities of long-chain, highly polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (Fig. 1).⁵ Thus, the Eskimo diet differs from the typical American diet in at least two ways. First, it is somewhat lower in saturated fatty acids. Second and more important, the primary polyunsaturated fatty acids.