Dietary and Biological Assessment of the Omega-3 Status of Collegiate Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

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Abstract

Omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA) are associated with cardiovascular health, brain function, reduction of inflammation, and several other physiological roles of importance to competitive athletes. The ω-3 FA status of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes has not been well-described. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ω-3 FA status of NCAA Division I athletes using dietary and biological assessment methodology. Athletes from nine NCAA Division I institutions from throughout the U.S. (n = 1,528, 51% male, 34 sports represented, 19.9 ± 1.4 years of age) completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess ω-3 FA from diet and supplements. Omega-3 Index (O3i) was evaluated in a sub-set of these participants (n = 298, 55% male, 21 sports represented, 20.0 ± 1.3 years of age) using dried blood spot sampling. Only 6% (n = 93) of athletes achieved the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics’ recommendation to consume 500 mg DHA+EPA per day. Use of ω-3 FA supplements was reported by 15% (n = 229) of participants. O3i was 4.33 ± 0.81%, with no participants meeting the O3i benchmark of 8% associated with the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease. Every additional weekly serving of fish or seafood was associated with an absolute O3i increase of 0.27%. Overall, sub-optimal ω-3 FA status was observed among a large, geographically diverse group of male and female NCAA Division I athletes. These findings may inform interventions aimed at improving ω-3 FA status of collegiate athletes. Further research on athlete-specific ω-3 FA requirements is needed.

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Most cited references 44

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Distribution, interconversion, and dose response of n−3 fatty acids in humans

Linda Arterburn, Eileen Hall, Harry Oken (2006)

n-3 Fatty acids have important visual, mental, and cardiovascular health benefits throughout the life cycle. Biodistribution, interconversion, and dose response data are reviewed herein to provide a basis for more rational n-3 dose selections. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is the principal n-3 fatty acid in tissues and is particularly abundant in neural and retinal tissue. Limited storage of the n-3 fatty acids in adipose tissue suggests that a continued dietary supply is needed. A large proportion of dietary alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is oxidized, and because of limited interconversion of n-3 fatty acids in humans, ALA supplementation does not result in appreciable accumulation of long-chain n-3 fatty acids in plasma. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) but not DHA concentrations in plasma increase in response to dietary EPA. Dietary DHA results in a dose-dependent, saturable increase in plasma DHA concentrations and modest increases in EPA concentrations. Plasma DHA concentrations equilibrate in approximately 1 mo and then remain at steady state throughout supplementation. DHA doses of approximately 2 g/d result in a near maximal plasma response. Both dietary DHA and EPA reduce plasma arachidonic acid concentrations. Tissue contents of DHA and EPA also increase in response to supplementation with these fatty acids. Human milk contents of DHA are dependent on diet, and infant DHA concentrations are determined by their dietary intake of this fatty acid. We conclude that the most predictable way to increase a specific long-chain n-3 fatty acid in plasma, tissues, or human milk is to supplement with the fatty acid of interest.

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Polyunsaturated fatty acids and inflammatory processes: New twists in an old tale.

Philip C. Calder (2009)

The n-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA; 20:4n-6) gives rise to eicosanoid mediators that have established roles in inflammation and AA metabolism is a long recognised target for commonly used anti-inflammatory therapies. It has generally been assumed that all AA-derived eicosanoids are pro-inflammatory. However this is an over-simplification since some actions of eicosanoids are anti-inflammatory (e.g. prostaglandin (PG) E(2) inhibits production of some inflammatory cytokines) and it has been discovered quite recently that PGE(2) inhibits production of inflammatory leukotrienes and induces production of inflammation resolving lipoxin A(4). The n-3 fatty acids from oily fish and "fish oils", eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3), are incorporated into inflammatory cell phospholipids in a time- and dose-dependent manner. They are incorporated partly at the expense of AA, but also of other n-6 fatty acids. EPA and DHA inhibit AA metabolism. Thus production of AA-derived eicosanoids is decreased by these n-3 fatty acids; this occurs in a dose-dependent manner. EPA gives rise to an alternative family of eicosanoids (e.g. PGE(3)), which frequently, but not always, have lower potency than those produced from AA. Recently a new family of EPA- and DHA-derived lipid mediators called resolvins (E- and D-series) has been described. These have potent anti-inflammatory and inflammation resolving properties in model systems. It seems likely that these mediators will explain many of the antiinflammatory actions of n-3 fatty acids that have been described. In addition to modifying the profile of lipid-derived mediators, fatty acids can also influence peptide mediator (i.e. cytokine) production. To a certain extent this action may be due to the altered profile of regulatory eicosanoids, but it seems likely that eicosanoid-independent actions are a more important mechanism. Indeed effects on transcription factors that regulate inflammatory gene expression (e.g. nuclear factor kappaB) seem to be important.

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Effect of dietary enrichment with eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids on in vitro neutrophil and monocyte leukotriene generation and neutrophil function.

J Ravalese, Kathleen E. Corey, Silke Sperling … (1985)

The effects of dietary fish-oil fatty acids on the function of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway of peripheral-blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes were determined in seven normal subjects who supplemented their usual diet for six weeks with daily doses of triglycerides containing 3.2 g of eicosapentaenoic acid and 2.2 g of docosahexaenoic acid. The diet increased the eicosapentaenoic acid content in neutrophils and monocytes more than sevenfold, without changing the quantities of arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. When the neutrophils were activated, the release of [3H]arachidonic acid and its labeled metabolites was reduced by a mean of 37 per cent, and the maximum generation of three products of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway was reduced by more than 48 per cent. The ionophore-induced release of [3H]arachidonic acid and its labeled metabolites from monocytes in monolayers was reduced by a mean of 39 per cent, and the generation of leukotriene B4 by 58 per cent. The adherence of neutrophils to bovine endothelial-cell monolayers pretreated with leukotriene B4 was inhibited completely, and their average chemotactic response to leukotriene B4 was inhibited by 70 per cent, as compared with values determined before the diet was begun and six weeks after its discontinuation. We conclude that diets enriched with fish-oil-derived fatty acids may have antiinflammatory effects by inhibiting the 5-lipoxygenase pathway in neutrophils and monocytes and inhibiting the leukotriene B4-mediated functions of neutrophils.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Peter P. Ritz: Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing

Mark B. Rogers: Role: ConceptualizationRole: Writing – review & editing

Jennifer S. Zabinsky: Role: ConceptualizationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: Writing – review & editing

Valisa E. Hedrick: Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – review & editing

John A. Rockwell: Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing

Ernest G. Rimer: Role: InvestigationRole: Project administrationRole: Writing – review & editing

Samantha B. Kostelnik: Role: Data curationRole: Writing – review & editing

Matthew W. Hulver: Role: ConceptualizationRole: Writing – review & editing

Michelle S. Rockwell:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-6083

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing

Emily Sauers: Role: Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE

Journal ID (publisher-id): plos

Journal ID (pmc): plosone

Title: PLoS ONE

Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )

ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203

Publication date (Electronic): 29 April 2020

Publication date Collection: 2020

Volume: 15

Issue: 4

Electronic Location Identifier: e0228834

Affiliations

[1 ] Athletics Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America

[2 ] Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America

[3 ] Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America

[4 ] Department of Medicine, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, VA, United States of America

[5 ] Department of Exercise & Sport Science, College of Health, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

[6 ] Athletics Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

[7 ] Center for Transformative Research on Health Behaviors, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Roanoke, Roanoke, VA, United States of America

[8 ] Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America

East Stroudsburg University, UNITED STATES

Author notes

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

* E-mail: msrock@ 123456vt.edu

Author information

Michelle S. Rockwell http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-6083

Article

Publisher ID: PONE-D-20-02046

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228834

PMC ID: 7190167

PubMed ID: 32348305

SO-VID: fac004ee-8d76-416d-9e14-48ef2b16a77f

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

History

Date received : 22 January 2020

Date accepted : 7 April 2020

Page count

Figures: 5, Tables: 4, Pages: 16

Funding

Funded by: College and Professional Sports Dietitians Association

Award Recipient : Peter P. Ritz

This research was supported by the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association Research Award ( www.sportsrd.org) which was awarded to first author Peter P. Ritz in 2018. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Dietary and Biological Assessment of the Omega-3 Status of Collegiate Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

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Most cited references 44

Distribution, interconversion, and dose response of n−3 fatty acids in humans

Polyunsaturated fatty acids and inflammatory processes: New twists in an old tale.

Effect of dietary enrichment with eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids on in vitro neutrophil and monocyte leukotriene generation and neutrophil function.

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