Fish Oil Might Help Keep Cholesterol in Check

People with a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol can lower their levels by taking fish oil supplements, a new study shows.

The results indicate that lifestyle can be a powerful influence on artery-clogging cholesterol, even if a person’s genetics tends to make those levels higher, researchers said.

“Recent advances in genetic studies have allowed us to predict someone’s genetic risk of high cholesterol,” said lead researcher Yitang Sun, a doctoral graduate from the University of Georgia’s Department of Genetics.

“But the current prediction has room for improvement because it does not consider individual differences in lifestyles, such as taking fish oil supplements,” Sun added in a university news release.

About 1 in 4 Americans — more than 86 million — have high cholesterol, the researchers said in background notes.

Millions more are at risk for high cholesterol because of their genetics, the researchers added.

For the study, researchers used genetic data on more than 441,000 British residents to calculate each person’s genetic likelihood of high levels of cholesterol.

The study participants are taking part in a large-scale research project called the UK Biobank. As part of that project, the people also reported in a questionnaire whether they take fish oil supplements and provided a blood sample for a cholesterol check.

Results show that participants taking fish oil had lower blood cholesterol levels than would be expected, given their genetics.

That was especially true of their total cholesterol, “bad” LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, researchers said.

The research team also found that fish oil supplements can boost levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.

The new study was published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“Our study shows that considering lifestyles will improve genetic prediction,” added senior researcher Kaixiong Ye, an assistant professor of genetics at the University of Georgia. “Our findings also support that fish oil supplements may counteract the genetic predisposition to high cholesterol.”

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more on cholesterol-lowering supplements.

SOURCE: University of Georgia, news release, Aug. 5, 2024