Fish oil may help in one of the most common complications of diabetes – diabetic neuropathy or nerve damage that affects about 50 percent of patients with dibetes and new research shows that the metabolite resolvin, resulting from the treatment of omega 3 fatty acids in the body, can not only stop the progress of the neuropathy in mice but also improve the situation.
There is no cure for this complication,and the most effective treatment is to keep blood sugar levels which only slow down the development of the situation. New research shows that there is an alternative – the omega 3 fatty acids, found in fish oil and to restore its damaged nerves in mice with diabetes.
Fish oil is an attractive method of treatment as it is considered a very safe remedy and can be easily used on a daily basis. “Fish oil is simply taken as a vitamin and should have few side effects in combination with other drugs,” says Yorek.
Earlier studies of obesity and diabetes have shown that taking omega-3 fatty acids follows better blood sugar levels, better work and alleviated symptoms of liver inflammation. These beneficial effects to health are attributed to the protective molecules that produce omega-3 fatty acids.
Scientists have already found that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil improves diabetic neuropathy in rats, and in the new study they attempted to find out why.
Part of the mice fed with the omega-3 fatty acids and were found to, unlike the controled group who had not been on the omega 3,have unchanged nerve damage, and improved the situation, by strengthening the transmission of sensation through the nerve pathways. The scientists observed that resolvin stimulating the growth of nerve cells.
“Our research in animals suggests that fish oil can reverse some of the harmful effects of diabetes on the nerves,” says Yorek.
