Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 75 (2006) 57–60 Short communication Self-reported health problems in young male subjects supplementing their diet with oils rich in eicosapentaenoic, g-linolenic and stearidonic acids Elizabeth A. Miles, Tapati Banerjee, Philip C. Calder à Institute of Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK Received 16 March 2006; received in revised form 13 April 2006; accepted 19 April 2006 There remains significant interest in the effects of n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on cell, tissue and organ function and on human health [1–4]. Many beneficial effects of long chain n-3 PUFAs, particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosa- hexaenoic acid (DHA), have been identified [2–4]. These fatty acids are typically found in oily fish, which is only rarely consumed amongst many Western populations [5]. Since the plant n-3 PUFA a-linolenic acid (aLNA) can be converted to EPA and DHA [6], there has been considerable interest in using increased intake of aLNA to mimic the effects of its longer chain, more unsatu- rated derivatives. However, conversion of aLNA to EPA and DHA is inefficient in adult humans (see [7]) and increased intake of aLNA does not reproduce the health benefits of long chain n-3 PUFAs [8,9]. The lack of efficiency of conversion of aLNA may relate to impaired delta-6 desaturase activity. Thus, the product of delta-6 desaturase, stearidonic acid (STA), might be better converted to EPA than is aLNA. James et al. [10] showed greater enrichment of EPA in plasma and cell lipids if subjects supplemented their diet with the ethyl ester of STA than if they supplemented with the same amount of the ethyl ester of aLNA. Thus, STA appears to be superior to aLNA at increasing long-chain n-3 PUFA status in target pools in humans and so sources of STA might offer some human health benefits. Oil from the seeds of Echium plantaginium (echium oil) contains a significant amount of STA (typically 10–15% of fatty acids). To date there are few studies investigat- ing echium oil in humans. One study reported that supplementation of the diet of healthy young males with echium oil providing 1 g STA/day increases the EPA content of mononuclear cells but has limited impact on measures of immune function [11,12]. Another study reported that supplementation of the diet of hypertri- glyceridemic male subjects with echium oil providing about 1.9 g STA/day increases the EPA content of plasma phospholipids and of neutrophils and lowers serum triglyceride concentrations [13]. Other than these studies, there is little information on the impact of echium oil on human health. We are aware that there is some interest in this and so we thought that it might be useful to make available findings of self-reported health- related observations made during our study with echium oil [11,12]. Full details of our study can be found elsewhere [11,12]. Ethical permission for all procedures involving human volunteers was obtained from the Southampton and South West Hampshire Joint Ethics Committee. Healthy adult males aged 21–44 years were invited to participate in the study. All volunteers completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire prior to entering the study. Exclusion and inclusion criteria can be found elsewhere [11,12], but recruits were in general good health. Seventy-six subjects were recruited to the study. Subjects were randomly allocated in a double-blind fashion to one of seven intervention groups (n ¼ 10–12/ group). Subjects consumed nine 1 g capsules/day for 12 weeks. The capsules were provided by Royal Numico ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/plefa 0952-3278/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2006.04.005 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 23 80594223; fax: +44 23 80594379. E-mail address: pcc@soton.ac.uk (P.C. Calder).