Research

Hormonal

DHA is most strongly associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) death, particularly arrhythmic CHD death, while DPA is most strongly associated with stroke death.

If you are concerned about heart rhythm issues, ensuring adequate DHA levels might be particularly important. For stroke prevention, DPA levels also show strong protective associations. This suggests that a balanced intake of all long-chain omega-3s (EPA, DHA, DPA) is beneficial, rather than focusing on just one.

GoodSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Among CVD subtypes, DHA seemed most strongly related to CHD death (40% lower risk), especially arrhythmic CHD death (45% lower risk), whereas DPA was most strongly related to stroke death (47% lower risk).
Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2013

Why this rating

Observational cohort study; associations are strong but causal mechanisms for specific fatty acids are inferred.

Source

Plasma Phospholipid Long-Chain ω-3 Fatty Acids and Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Older Adults

Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2013

DOI 10.7326/0003-4819-158-7-201304020-00003

cohort · n=2692Cited 281×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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