Impact of fish oil supplementation on plasma levels of highly unsaturated fatty acid-containing lipid classes and molecular species in American football athletes.

Background: Previous studies have linked sports-related concussions and repeated subconcussive head impacts in contact sport athletes to elevated brain injury biomarkers. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the primary omega-3 (n-3) highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) in the brain, has shown neuroprotective effects in animal models after brain injury, but clinical research has shown mixed results.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on 29 Division 1 collegiate American football players, exploring the impact of DHA (2.