LDL and HDL levels with and 3g of fish oil daily

[adriank]

My Trig 1.5, HDL 1.1 and LDL 2.4, after 2 weeks of 6g of fish oil to get about 2g of epa/dha, my Trig drop to 1.2, but HDL 1.0 and LDL 2.5 … can someone explain what happened? I havent been hitting the gym regularly because of my sleep issues. I thought 6g of fish oil as opposed to 3g would help.

My next test for 2 weeks will be hitting the sauna everyday and see if it helps.

After that for another 2 weeks I will try to stick to 4x HIIT a week (6 x 30s sprints, with 1min medium pace interval.

Hopefully I will have better results.

[qBx123Yk]

Is the idea that fish oil decreases LDL levels? I’ve never heard of that.

Fish oil affects LDL cholesterol levels, but the specific effect depends heavily on the chemical composition of the fish oil supplement—specifically the presence of Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) versus Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA).

Key Findings from Clinical Trials

1. DHA Increases LDL-C Levels Clinical trials and systematic reviews demonstrate that fish oil preparations containing DHA tend to cause a modest increase in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, typically around 3% to 10% (Innes & Calder, 2018). While DHA effectively lowers triglycerides and increases HDL-C, it frequently raises circulating LDL-C concentration and shifts LDL particle size.
2. EPA Alone (Purified EPA) Does Not Raise LDL-C Pure EPA formulations (such as prescription icosapent ethyl) lower triglycerides without producing a statistically significant increase in LDL-C (Innes & Calder, 2018).
3. Combined Fish Oil (EPA + DHA) Neutral to Slight Increases Standard commercial over-the-counter fish oil supplements contain a mixture of EPA and DHA. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials demonstrate that while these mixtures significantly lower serum triglycerides, their overall effect on aggregate serum LDL-C levels across broader populations is either neutral or shows a slight increase depending on the DHA dosage (Eslick et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2023).

[John_Hemming]

I don’t think a movement of 0.1 is particularly significant

[adriank]

that is why I am a bit stump… but I guess here in Australia it doesnt distinguish between the types of LDL. I was hoping the HDL will go up.

[adriank]

I am not concern about the LDL, rather I need the HDL to go up. Higher LDL is good too… but provide HDL increases more. I will test again in 2 weeks … until I get an answer.