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Human Nutrition and Metabolism
Research Communication

(n-3) Fatty Acids Do Not Affect Electrocardiographic Characteristics of Healthy Men and Women¹

Anouk Geelen^*,2, Ingeborg A. Brouwer^*, Peter L. Zock^*, Jan A. Kors^**, Cees A. Swenne, Martijn B. Katan^*, and Evert G. Schouten^*,

^* Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences (WCFS), Wageningen, the Netherlands; Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands; ^** Department of Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Cardiology Department, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: anouk.geelen{at}staff.nutepi.wau.nl.

(n-3) Fatty acids may reduce the risk of sudden death by preventing life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia. A standard electrocardiogram (ECG) may be used to detect clues as to the mechanism by which (n-3) fatty acids affect the electrophysiology of the heart. An earlier study showed that (n-3) fatty acids decreased the duration of the heart-rate corrected QT interval (QTc) in dogs. However, effects of (n-3) fatty acids on the standard ECG of humans have not been reported. Therefore, we investigated the effect of (n-3) fatty acids on QTc, QRS duration, apex-to-end-T duration, T-loop morphology and spatial QRS-T angle in apparently healthy men and women aged 50 to 70 y. Subjects (n = 42/group) received either capsules providing 1.5 g (n-3) fatty acids daily or placebo for 12 wk. ECG were recorded before and after intervention. None of the ECG characteristics were affected by (n-3) fatty acids. The QTc decreased by 0.8 ms or 0.2% (95% confidence interval, -6.1 to 4.4 ms) in subjects that consumed (n-3) fatty acids compared with the placebo group. These results do not support the hypothesis that (n-3) fatty acids prevent arrhythmia through electrophysiologic effects on heart cell membranes. However, an effect on the ECG in more susceptible populations can not be excluded.

KEY WORDS: • (n-3) fatty acids • ventricular arrhythmias • electrocardiogram • QTc interval • electrophysiology

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