Abstract
Long-chain n-3 PUFA (n-3 LCPUFA) have been shown to reduce blood pressure, heart rate and vagal tone, but potential stress-mitigating effects of n-3 LCPUFA are not well investigated. We aim to explore the effects of oily fish consumption on long-term stress and the stress response in schoolchildren. Healthy 8-9-year-old children were randomized to receive ~300 g/week of oily fish or poultry for 12 ± 2 weeks. At baseline and endpoint, we measured erythrocyte n-3 LCPUFA, hair cortisol and the response to a 1-min cold pressor test (CPT) on saliva cortisol, blood pressure, and continuous electrocardiogram recordings. Of the 199 randomized children, 197 completed the trial. Hair cortisol did not differ between the groups, but a sex-interaction was indicated (Psex*group = 0.074, difference between means -0.9 (95% CI: -2.9,1.0) ng/g and 0.7 (-0.2,1.6) ng/g in boys and girls, respectively). The children in the fish group tended to be less prone to terminate CPT prematurely (OR 0.20 [0.02,1.04]). The mean heart beat interval during CPT was 18.2 (0.3,36.6) ms longer and the high frequency power increased (159 (29,289) ms2) in the fish versus the poultry group. The cardiac autonomic response in the 10 min following CPT was characterized by a sympathetic peak followed by a parasympathetic peak, which was most pronounced in the fish group. This exploratory study does not support a strong effect of oily fish consumption on stress, but indicates that oily fish consumption may increase vagal cardiac tone during the physiological response to CPT. These results warrant further investigation.