Further evidence has emerged to suggest that omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oil improves insulin function in overweight people who are vulnerable to type 2 diabetes.

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Daily supplements of DHA (docosahexaenoic) over a three-month period yielded a “clinically significant” improvement in insulin sensitivity in overweight participants in a study, reported Dr Yvonne Denkins, nutrition researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Institute, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.


This latest research backs up earlier studies suggesting that fish oil may help protect against heart disease. “There were epidemiological studies on the Greenland Eskimos, a population of people that eat mainly whale blubber,” Denkins said. “These are people that are overweight, that should be diabetic and have heart disease, but they do not. The scientists that studied them thought it was probably because of what they eat, and they found that it was the omega-3s.”


In Denkins’ study, 12 overweight adults consumed 1.8 grams of DHA at breakfast for 12 weeks. While none of the study participants had full-blown diabetes, they all suffered from insulin resistance –a pre-diabetic condition in which the body fails to efficiently respond to insulin.


“We did see a change in insulin sensitivity after 12 weeks of DHA supplementation,” Denkins told Reuters Health. A full 70% of the study participants showed an improvement in insulin-related function, she said, “and in 50% it was a clinically significant change.”

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Nutrition experts currently recommend a daily intake of 0.6 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, preferably from fish. According to Denkins, that works out to about two servings of cold-water fish – species like halibut, herring, mackerel or salmon – per week.


For more information, visit the Pennington Biomedical Research Institute website http://www.pbrc.edu/

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