Differential effects of high dose omega-3 fatty acids on metabolism and inflammation in patients with obesity: eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid supplementation

Angélica Borja-Magno; Martha Guevara-Cruz; Adriana Flores-López; Silvia Carrillo-Domínguez; Julio Granados; Clorinda Arias; Mary Perry; Barry Sears; Hector Bourges; F Enrique Gómez

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1156995

Differential effects of high dose omega-3 fatty acids on metabolism and inflammation in patients with obesity: eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid supplementation

Front Nutr. 2023 May 5:10:1156995. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1156995. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Fisiología de la Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
² Servicio de Nutriología Clínica, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
³ Departamento de Nutrición Animal, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁴ Departamento de Trasplantes, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁵ Departamento de Medicina Genómica y Toxicología Ambiental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁶ Inflammation Research Foundation, Peabody, MA, United States.
⁷ Dirección de Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.

Abstract

Background: Obesity is complicated by low-grade chronic inflammation characterised by increases in inflammatory proteins and cells in peripheral blood. It has been known that omega-3 fatty acids (FA) like eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) could modulate the inflammatory process and improve metabolic markers.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of high-dose omega-3 FA on metabolic and inflammatory markers among patients with obesity and healthy volunteers.

Methods: This prospective study included 12 women with obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 35.0 kg/m²) and 12 healthy women (BMI < 24.0 kg/m²) who were supplemented with a dose of 4.8 g/day (3.2 g EPA plus 1.6 g DHA) for 3 months followed by no treatment for 1 month. Plasma metabolic and inflammatory markers and levels of mRNA transcripts of CD4⁺ T lymphocyte subsets were determined monthly.

Results: None of the participants exhibited changes in weight or body composition after study completion. EPA and DHA supplementation improved metabolic (insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance [HOMA-IR], triglyceride [TG]/ high-density lipoprotein [HDL] ratio, TG, and arachidonic acid [AA]/EPA ratio) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Moreover, the levels of mRNA transcripts of T CD4⁺ lymphocyte subsets (TBX21, IFNG, GATA-3, interleukin [IL]-4, FOXP3, IL-10 IL-6, and TNF-α), were down-regulated during the intervention phase. After 1 month without supplementation, only insulin, HOMA-IR and the mRNA transcripts remained low, whereas all other markers returned to their levels before supplementation.

Conclusion: Supplementation with high-dose omega-3 FAs could modulate metabolism and inflammation in patients with obesity without weight loss or changes in body composition. However, these modulatory effects were ephemeral and with clear differential effects: short-duration on metabolism and long-lasting on inflammation.

Keywords: docosahexaenoic (DHA); eicosapentaenoic (EPA); inflammation; metabolism; nutrition; obesity; omega-3 fatty acids.