Handeland K, et al. - This study assessed attention performance in adolescents who were asked to consume fatty fish meals three times per week for 12 weeks versus similar meals with meat or omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) supplements. Among study participants, a small beneficial impact on processing speed was evident as a result of consuming fatty fish versus meat meals and supplements. However, low dietary compliance made these results difficult to interpret. This investigation demonstrates that different taste preferences among participants are challenging in intervention trials with food.

Methods

• Adolescents from eight secondary schools (n = 426; age: 14-15y) were individually randomized in the Fish Intervention Studies-TEENS (FINS-TEENS).
• Using the d2 test of attention, attention performance was assessed.
• Linear mixed effect models and general estimates equation were used to evaluate the differences between groups from pre to post intervention.
• The fish group was set as reference.
• In addition, recording was performed of dietary compliance for each meal throughout the trial and controlled for in the adjusted analyses.

Results

• Findings demonstrated that compared with the fish group (reference), improvement in processing speed was significantly lower in the meat (-11.8; 95% CI: -23.3, -0.4) and supplement (-13.4; 95% CI: -24.9, -1.8) group.
• Furthermore, the supplement group versus the fish group (reference) showed inferior improvement in total performance (-10.4; 95% CI: -20.0, -0.7).
• Researchers observed that the results were slightly affected when controlling for dietary compliance.
• Data also reported that omission errors decreased in the meat group compared to the fish group (Incidence rate ratio = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.74, 0.98), but the difference disappeared when controlling for dietary compliance.