Effect of dietary fish oil on hyperlipidaemia due to isotretinoin and etretinate.

Treatment with retinoids results in increased serum triglyceride and cholesterol and reduced HDL-cholesterol; dietary supplementation with fish oil lowers serum lipids. Therefore combining retinoids with fish oil may reduce retinoid hyperlipidaemia. Increased triglyceride due to isotretinoin was reduced by 70% (P less than 0.05) and cholesterol by 45% (P less than 0.05) after addition of fish oil; placebo oil had no effect. These decreases were not associated with changes in levels of HDL-cholesterol or reduction of increased levels of apoprotein B. Increased triglyceride due to etretinate was reversed after the addition of fish oil (P less than 0.01), but cholesterol levels did not change. Therefore fish oil inhibits hypertriglyceridaemia due to isotretinoin and etretinate and reduces increased cholesterol levels due to isotretinoin; this effect is likely to be due to altered lipoprotein composition.