Impact of botanical oils on polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism and leukotriene generation in mild asthmatics

Table 1 Study group compositions and daily dosing scheme for borage and echium seed oils in the four groups of subjects

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
No. of Subjects	6	9	11	11
(female)	(3)	(5)	(6)	(7)
Age (range)	22–46	18–54	19–58	22–64
No. of subjects withdrawn	1	1	1	2
Echium Oil Dose (g)	14	7	4	2
No. of daily capsules	14	7	4	2
ALA (g)	4.02	2.01	1.15	0.57
SDA (g)	1.75	0.875	0.5	0.25
GLA (g)	1.54	0.77	0.44	0.22
Borage Oil Dose (g)	0	3.9	5.2	5.2
No. of daily capsules	0	3	4	4
ALA (g)	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
SDA (g)	0	0	0	0
GLA (g)	0	0.9	1.2	1.2
Total
No. of daily capsules	14	10	8	6
ALA (g)	4.02	2.01	1.15	0.57
SDA (g)	1.75	0.875	0.5	0.25
GLA (g)	1.54	1.67	1.64	1.44

The number of daily capsules, containing 1 g (EO) or 1.3 g (BO) oil per capsule, and the amount of ALA, SDA and GLA provided by the encapsulated echium and borage oils is shown for each dosing group. Recruitment into Group 1 was stopped after the interim analyses showed that the highest dose of EO was not required to prevent elevations of AA levels in circulating plasma.