6.4  Dietary recommendations of n-3 LC-PUFA
Currently, the recommended daily intake of n-3 PUFAs varies as regarding expert committees, ranging from 250 to 500 mg for healthy adults (Flock et al., 2013). The European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) recommendation is 250 mg/day n-3 PUFAs (EPA and DHA) for adult males and non-pregnant females, and supplementation of 100–200 mg/day of DHA in pregnancy (EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, 2010). For children less than 2 years old, the daily recommendation corresponds to 100 mg DHA, while for children more than 2 years and in adolescents, the daily recommendation is similar to that for adults (EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, 2010). The upper daily value of acceptable for EPA and DHA consumption has been set at 2000 mg, but higher doses used in clinical trials did not induce adverse effects (Rangel-Huerta et al., 2012).
There are also some additional recommendations in patients with high and extremely high fasting-triglyceride levels. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a daily intake of 500 mg–1000 mg DHA and EPA in patients with borderline levels (150–199 mg/dl), 1000–2000 mg in patients with high levels, and 2000–4000 mg in patients with very high triglyceride levels (>500 mg/dl) (Kris-Etherton et al., 2002). Importantly, further research should be conducted before any definitive daily recommendation or on the routine use of n-3 PUFAs in other chronic inflammatory diseases.
Studies show that n-3 PUFAs do not impact in a positive manner the metabolic profile of healthy subjects and induce variable effect on diabetes mellitus cases (no important effects on inflammation but a constant ability to increase the HDL level); on the other hand, a reduction of inflammation is obese and ageing patients as well as in those with metabolic syndrome.