The effects of very low fat diets (less than 7% energy) enriched with different sources of long chain (C20 and C22) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on plasma lipid levels and plasma fatty acid composition were studied in 13 healthy volunteers. Three diets provided 500 g/day of tropical Australian fish (rich in arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid), southern Australian fish (rich in docosahexaenoic acid) or kangaroo meat (rich in linoleic and arachidonic acids). The fourth diet was vegetarian, similarly low in fat but containing no 20- and 22-carbon PUFA. Subjects ate their normal or usual diets on weeks 1 and 4 and the very low fat diets in weeks 2 and 3. Weighed food intake records were kept, and weeks 2, 3 and 4 were designed to be isoenergetic with week 1. Plasma cholesterol levels fell significantly on all diets within one week. There were reductions in both low density (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, with effects on HDL cholesterol being more consistent. There were no consistent or significant effects on total triglyceride levels despite the high carbohydrate content of the diets. On all diets the percentage of linoleic acid fell in the plasma phospholipid and cholesteryl ester fractions, while the percentage of palmitic acid in the phospholipids and cholesteryl esters and palmitoleic acid in the cholesteryl ester fraction rose on all diets. The percentage of arachidonic acid rose in the phospholipid and cholesteryl esters on the two diets that were good sources of this fatty acid (tropical fish and kangaroo meat).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)