Those with Multiple Sclerosis Get No Benefit from Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplements

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 :: Staff infoZine

Omega-3 fatty acid supplements were not associated with beneficial effects on disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Chicago, IL – infoZine – Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, incurable disease of the central nervous system that affects about 2.5 million people worldwide. Some patients use, or have tried, omega-3 fatty acids supplementation to control the disease because the essential fatty acids could theoretically have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in multiple sclerosis, the authors write in their study background to a report of a randomized controlled trial published Online First by Archives of Neurology, a JAMA Network publication.Øivind Torkildsen, M.D., Ph.D., of Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, and colleagues included 92 patients with multiple sclerosis in their double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine whether omega-3 fatty acid supplementation as a monotherapy (single therapy) or in combination with subcutaneous (under the skin) interferon beta-1a could reduce disease activity.Half of the patients (46) were given omega-3 fatty acids—1350 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid and 850 mg of docosahexaenoic acid daily—and the other half (46) were administered placebo. After six months, all patients received interferon beta-1a three times a week for another 18 months. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure disease activity by the number of new T1-weighted gadolinium-enhancing lesions in the brain.