A recent study has shown that increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids reduces the chances of high-risk children developing type 1 diabetes. The results of this research were published in the Sept. 26 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers note that previous studies have shown that supplementing infant diets with cod-liver oil has been associated with a decreased risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, they sought to examine whether intakes of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are associated with the development of islet autoimmunity in children. Degradation of islet beta cells, which secrete insulin, is a primary cause of diabetes.
The Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY), which included a study of 1,770 children at increased risk for type 1 diabetes, was conducted in Denver between Jan. 1994 and Nov. 2006. Risk was determined by possession of a high diabetes risk human leukocyte antigen genotype, or having a sibling or parent with type 1 diabetes. Analysis of food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ)—completed by the children’s mothers—and ongoing observation of the children to see whether or not the developed diabetes served as the primary tools of analysis for the study.
Results showed that intake of omega-3 fatty acids decreases the possibility of high-risk children developing diabetes. “Our study suggests that higher consumption of total omega-3 fatty acids, which was reported on the FFQ, is associated with a lower risk of islet autoimmunity (IA) in children at increased genetic risk of type 1 diabetes,” reports Jill Norris, Ph.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and professor with the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics and Head of the Section of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Colorado, Denver. “This association is further substantiated by the observation that a higher proportion of omega-3 fatty acids in the erythrocyte membranes is associated with a decreased risk of IA in a subset of this same population.”