Fish oil supplementation modified the profile of defense cells, shifting them from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state, effectively reversing a condition resembling type 2 diabetes.
A Brazilian study published in Nutrients suggests that fish oil may help reduce insulin resistance and improve glucose tolerance by influencing the body’s inflammatory response.
Funded by FAPESP, the study was conducted on rats that, while not obese, exhibited a condition resembling type 2 diabetes—a disorder marked by high blood sugar levels due to diminished insulin effectiveness.
As the authors explain, supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids such as those present in fish oil has been prescribed for individuals with cardiovascular problems and type 2 diabetes, but the effects of these nutrients on insulin resistance without obesity are poorly understood.
In this study, the researchers observed that administration of 2 grams of fish oil per kilogram of body weight (equivalent to 540 mg/g of eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and 100 mg/g of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA) three times per week for eight weeks reduced insulin resistance in non-obese rats, which also displayed improved levels of blood sugar, inflammatory markers and lipid features, including total cholesterol, LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and triglycerides.
Potential Implications for Diabetes Treatment
Although the findings resulted from preclinical trials, they offer hope for non-obese type 2 diabetes patients, or 10%-20% of the worldwide total with the disease.
“Our experiments involved Goto-Kakizaki [GK] rats, an animal model for non-obese type 2 diabetes. We found that insulin resistance can be reduced in these animals by modulating the inflammatory response so as to change the profile of defense cells [lymphocytes] from a pro-inflammatory state to an anti-inflammatory state. This process parallels the response of obese individuals with insulin resistance to omega-3 fatty acid supplementation,” said Rui Curi, Director of Butantan Institute’s Education Center, Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies in Health Sciences at Cruzeiro do Sul University (UNICSUL), and coordinator of the study.
Alterations in lymphocytes, white blood cells that orchestrate the adaptive immune response, tend to have an impact on other immune system cells, triggering a cascade effect. “In previous studies, we observed alterations in both lymphocytes and macrophages [large white blood cells that often reside in adipose tissue and are part of the innate immune system, engulfing and destroying pathogens] in non-obese rats with insulin resistance. In such cases, these cells produce more pro-inflammatory cytokines, as is central in obese people with diabetes,” Curi explained.
“The main aim of the study, therefore, was to find out whether supplementation with fish oil [rich in omega-3] could reverse specific alterations in lymphocytes that had been observed in previous research. Our findings increased our knowledge of the link between inflammation and insulin resistance in non-obese animals, confirming that this is a key factor in diabetes even in the absence of obesity,” said Renata Gorjão, last author of the article, and Co-Director of UNICSUL’s Program of Graduate Studies in Health Sciences.
Systemic inflammation
The investigation described in the Nutrients article, conducted during the PhD candidacy of Tiago Bertola Lobato, was part of a larger project supported by FAPESP that is deepening scientists’ understanding of insulin resistance in non-obese animals.
According to Curi, obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, albeit not the only one. In the case of non-obese diabetes patients, the primary hypothesis is that the cause is genetic. In an article published in the journal Cells, Curi, Gorjão et al. describe an investigation into the possibility that insulin resistance in the non-obese may also be linked to delayed intestinal transit.
“Most obese people have chronic low-level inflammation, which is known to affect the insulin signaling pathways. Adipose tissue, which is augmented in obesity, releases pro-inflammatory cytokines that affect the insulin signaling pathways, promoting insulin resistance. In the non-obese model, this impactful characteristic of adipose tissue is absent, but systemic inflammation is present,” Curi said.
Systemic inflammation in non-obese GK rats with insulin resistance was demonstrated by the group in a previous study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
In another article relating to the same project, the researchers reported an early breakdown of anti-inflammatory mechanisms in non-obese GK rats with insulin resistance. Lymph nodes (part of the immune system) in newly weaned 21-day-old GK pups already exhibited a reduction in markers of regulatory T-cells (Tregs, cells with anti-inflammatory characteristics). Other early inflammatory alterations were also observed in the rats. The article is published in FEBS Letters, a journal of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.
“Fish oil supplementation reversed this pro-inflammatory profile, displaying a significant anti-inflammatory effect and reducing polarization of Th1 and Th17 cells [lymphocyte subtypes that perform crucial functions in inflammation], followed by a rise in the percentage of Tregs, which can inhibit the activation of pro-inflammatory lymphocytes. Thus the action of omega-3 fatty acids on lymphocytes, modulating them from a pro-inflammatory state to an anti-inflammatory state, may have triggered the reduction in insulin resistance in these animals,” Lobato said.
Despite the good news, the researchers stressed that more research is needed to confirm their findings. “These studies involved well-established experimental models that mimic insulin resistance in non-obese individuals. Trials in humans are needed to estimate the ideal dose and the most indicated type of omega-3 fatty acid,” Curi said.
Reference: “Omega-3 Fatty Acids Weaken Lymphocyte Inflammatory Features and Improve Glycemic Control in Nonobese Diabetic Goto-Kakizaki Rats” by Tiago Bertola Lobato, Elvirah Samantha de Sousa Santos, Patrícia Nancy Iser-Bem, Henrique de Souza Falcão, Gabriela Mandú Gimenes, Janaina Ribeiro Barbosa Pauferro, Glayce Tavares Rodrigues, Ilana Souza Correa, Ana Carolina Gomes Pereira, Maria Elizabeth Pereira Passos, João Carlos de Oliveira Borges, Amara Cassandra dos Anjos Alves, Camila Soares dos Santos, Maria Janaina Leite de Araújo, Vinícius Leonardo Sousa Diniz, Adriana Cristina Levada-Pires, Tânia Cristina Pithon-Curi, Laureane Nunes Masi, Rui Curi, Sandro Massao Hirabara and Renata Gorjão, 27 November 2024, Nutrients.
DOI: 10.3390/nu16234106
The study was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation.
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26 Comments
I am a 90 year old male diabetic for 30 years and been on fish oil for over 20 years. I have managed to keep my sugar at a reasonable level but it is not cured.
It says that 2mg for every1kg weight, so if your weight is 100 kg you need to take 200 mg of fish oil not 200 capsules of fish oil… !!!!!!!!! Dah!
It says 2 grams per kg. Thus must be a typo.
There is more to reverse diabetes than the Fish Oil regimen. A gamut of biological factors contribute to diabetes (Insulin Resistance). A thorough exam and questions related to daily routine, sleep, environment and diet are required to control blood sugar and increase longevity. I am glad that you are 90 years young and would like YOU to live healthily beyond 120.
I am eighty three
2mg per 1kg. OMG! A 220 lb person (100kg) would need to take 200 fish oil capsules at once.
No it will be a 200mg capsule of fish oil dear
I did the math and concluded a 100 kg person would need 200 pills @ 1000mg capsules 3 times a week. That’s a lot of pills and might cost $2500/yr
The math does not add up on this! For me that would be over 100 pills per day!
Please fact check your information!
Maybe you meant milligrams not grams.
Fish oil doesn’t change the defense of our bodies. It gets rid of the thing that causes the immune response to happen. Immune responses – inflammation – aren’t bad. What causes them is.
It says that 2mg for every1kg weight, so if your weight is 100 kg you need to take 200 mg of fish oil not 200 capsules of fish oil… !!!!!!!!! Dah!
2 grams (so 2,000 mg) per kg of body weight? So a bigger guy like me, at 100kg, would need 200,000mg a day. I just looked online, and I’m seeing 1,200mg as the largest type available. So I just need to swallow 167 of them a day? Uh, no, I don’t think that’s going to work.
Exactly. 2g per day may be more like it. This MUST BE A MISTAKE.
2g per kilogram may be toxic and damaging to liver and kidneys
2 grams of omega 3 per day is a effective dose.
do you have a source or is it your personal experience? I’m taking 2 grams currently and don’t know if it is enough for me.
Don’t take more than 2 grams.
Do more research.
Fish oil has been linked to AFib. Which increases your risk of stroke and other things.
When I take too much fish oil or take it for more than a week my heart flutters at bed time. I don’t like that.
Exactly. 2g per day may be more like it. This MUST BE A MISTAKE.
2g per kilogram may be toxic and damaging to liver and kidneys
2g/kilo.
Fat is 40KJ/gram
Im 90 kilo so, 360 capsules a day
90x40Kx2 =7200KJ.
Does not leave a lot of room for protein. Going to the toilet will be fun.
Wasn’t this tested on Rats? Humans and rats are in the same standards?
I been taking krill oil better then just fish oil
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28530530/
Back in the good old days before fish oil got encapsulated in pills for a high price, I took 1 desert spoon of cod-liver per night on the advice of an elderly lady who used it to deal with what had been chronic arthritis in her shoulders. After one week, the inflammation in my knees subsided and I felt comfortable walking, my hair had gone from dry to oily and my skin had gone supple again and also oily. I kept up that dosage for three years. Then cod-liver oil got fashionable, got encapsulated in golden coloured pills and the price of the bottled cod-liver oil quadrupled. A bit discouraging.
I am not sure what a desert spoon (two English tea-spoons) of fish-oil weighs, but it worked for me. Mix it with milk or orange juice as an emulsion and drink it before going to bed at night. It may also serve as a blood-thinner, so if you are on blood-thinner pills and get nose-bleeds after about a week of taking cod-liver oil, reduce the quantity you take. All anecdotal stuff; no liability accepted.
Well, I have to say, I got lost after the very first surge of numbers…..but I am glad to hear the varied responses. 35 years ago I started having pain in my spine. All of the time. Doctors said OsteoArthritis. Pain pills prescribed. I believe in wholistic approach and/or traditional meds. Since I am deathly allergic to fish and nuts. Cutting it short, I took baby steps with fish oils. I realized that had lived 39 years without certain nutrients. Maybe because of the preservatives my body responded positively to the fish oils and in 2 weeks the pain in my spine was gone. I have had omega 3 in my life very since. I hope my story has meaning to someone else out there.
you’d think its a mistake but they put 2 g/kg in the abstract and methods section. in the discussion they reference a paper that used 500 mg/kg which is still a LOT!
The first time I’ve even seen non-obese diabetics acknowledged.
Guys. We have tons of studies that, together, paint the picture of why fish oil helps some people.
Faulty mitochondria/energy production creates cellular stress–>which activates the integrated stress pathways–>which create diabetic conditions because it shuts down global protein synthesis and activates inflammatory pathways, making the problem a vicious cycle.
The Omega fatty acids are necessary for proper mitochondrial function and can alter that function enough that it produces less cellular stress, thereby allowing deactivation of the integrated stress response.
Lower your stressors and make sure you have everything your mitochondria needs.
I read the study from the link at the bottom. The article is correct. It is 2g/kg. It was done on rats. This is insane for a human! I’m 68kg. I would need roughly 408,000mg per week! That’s like 4L of fish oil. Does an entire tuna even have that?!