Omega-3 lowers inflammation in overweight older adults

NEW research shows that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can lower inflammation in healthy, but overweight, middle-aged and older adults, suggesting that regular use of these supplements could help protect against and treat certain illnesses. Four months of omega-3 supplementation decreased one protein in the blood that signals the presence of inflammation by an average of more than 10%, and led to a modest decrease in one other inflammation marker.

In comparison, participants taking placebos as a group saw average increases of 36% and 12%, respectively, of those same markers. Chronic inflammation is linked to numerous conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the frailty and functional decline that can accompany aging. "Omega-3 fatty acids may be both protective so that inflammation doesn’t go up, as well as therapeutic by helping inflammation go down," said Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology at Ohio State University and lead author of the study.

"This is the first study to show that omega-3 supplementation leads to changes in inflammatory markers in the blood in overweight but otherwise healthy people. In terms of regulating inflammation when people are already healthy, this is an important study, in that it suggests one way to keep them healthy." The study is published online and scheduled for later print publication in the journal Brain, Behaviour and Immunity.

Trial and results
Inflammation tends to accompany excess body fat, so the researchers recruited participants who were most likely high in pro-inflammatory blood compounds at the beginning of the study.
The scientists recruited 138 adults – 45 men and 93 women – who were in good health, but who were either overweight or obese and lived sedentary lives. Their average age was 51 years. Based on body mass index, a measure of weight relative to height, 91% of the participants were overweight and 47% were obese.

"We wanted to have enough room to see a downward trend. Most other trials testing the effects of omega-3 supplements on inflammation used people who were seriously diseased or skinny and healthy," said Professor Kiecolt-Glaser, also an investigator in Ohio State's Institute for Behavioural Medicine Research (IBMR). "You can see results in people with serious diseases, but there's a lot of other noise in that system. We wanted to make sure we were studying results in people who were fairly fit but who weren't exercising, because exercise can clearly lower inflammation."

The researchers also excluded from participation people taking a variety of medications to control mood, cholesterol and blood pressure as well as vegetarians, patients with diabetes, smokers, those routinely taking fish oil, people who got more than two hours of vigorous exercise each week and those whose body mass index was either below 22.5 or above 40.

Participants received either a placebo or one of two different doses of omega-3 fatty acids – either 2.5g or 1.25g per day. The supplements were calibrated to contain a ratio of the two fish oil fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), of seven to one. Previous research has suggested that EPA has more anti-inflammatory properties than does DHA.

After four months, participants who had taken the omega-3 supplements had significantly lower levels in their blood of two proteins that are markers of inflammation, also called pro-inflammatory cytokines.
The low-dose group showed an average 10% decrease in the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), and the high-dose group's overall IL-6 dropped by 12 per cent. In comparison, those taking a placebo saw an overall 36% increase in IL-6 by the end of the study.

Levels of the cytokine tumour necrosis factoralpha (TNF-a) also dropped, but in a more modest way, by 0.2% and 2.3% in the low- and high-dose groAir Jordan 4 IV Retro 30TH