Why the study?
RDW and NLR predict chronic disease risk and mortality, and the study sought to determine whether total plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acids were associated with RDW and NLR values in the UK Biobank cohort.
Are total plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acid levels associated with RDW and NLR values in adults?
Are total plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acid levels associated with RDW and NLR values in adults?
Higher total plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acids are inversely associated with RDW and NLR, which are biomarkers of systemic inflammation and chronic disease risk.
Higher omega-3 levels may link to lower inflammation markers; hypothesis-generating and leaves open need for prospective confirmation.
High red blood distribution width (RDW) is associated with decreased red blood cell deformability, and high neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a biomarker of systemic inflammation and innate-adaptive immune system imbalance. Both RDW and NLR are predictors of chronic disease risk and mortality. Omega-3 index (O3I) values have previously been shown to be inversely associated with RDW and NLR levels. Our objective was to determine if total plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acids (Omega3%) measured in the UK Biobank cohort were associated with RDW and NLR values. RDW- and NLR-relationships with Omega3% were characterized in 109,191 adults (58.4% female). RDW- and NLR-Omega3% relationships were inversely associated with Omega3% (both p<0.0001). These cross-sectional associations confirm previous findings that increasing RDW and NLR values are associated with low O3I. The hypothesis that RDW and/or NLR values can be reduced in individuals with less-than optimal long chain omega 3 values need to be tested in randomized controlled intervention trials using EPA and/or DHA.
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McBurney et al. (2022) studied this question.
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