Omega-3 (w-3) fatty acids, found in foods such as oily fish, have previously been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, studies on animals and humans have given conflicting results when it comes to the effects of w-3 on obesity. As obesity is associated with other conditions such as high cholesterol, inflammation and cardiovascular disease, reducing the body mass index (BMI) of obese patients (>30 kg m¬2) to the normal range (20-25 kg m¬2) is therefore important for good health.
In this research paper, Manohar Garg and Irene Munro from University of Newcastle, Australia, have investigated whether supplementation with LCw-3PUFA (omega-3 fatty acid) alone, then consumed in conjunction with a very low energy diet, facilitates weight loss. The team found that in their double blind randomised controlled trial, women are more responsive to the metabolism of LCw-3PUFA, which is possibly due to the hormone oestrogen and therefore they benefit from enhanced thermogenesis. However, due to the small number of male participants in this study, further research over a longer time period would be required to investigate gender differences and the potential link between LCw-3PUFA and BMI.
Read the full article for free until the 26th March 2013!
Prior supplementation with long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids promotes weight loss in obese adults: a double-blinded randomised controlled trial, Irene A. Munro and Manohar L. Garg, Food Funct., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/c3fo60038f
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