Fish oils could protect against obesity health risks

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils appear to protect overweight Eskimos from diseases linked to overweight and obesity, researchers have reported.

The fish based diet was dubbed the Eskimo diet some years ago – and attracted interested because of its claimed benefits.

Now a team of researchers has studied 330 Yup’ik Eskimos in Alaska. Dr Zeina Makhoul and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle, USA, explain that this population eat about 20 times more omega-3 fatty acids from fish than other US citizens.

These fats are contained in salmon, sardines and other fatty fish, and named docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, and eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA.

Seventy per cent of the participants were overweight or obese. Among those with low DHA and EPA levels, obesity was linked to heart and diabetes risk factors such as blood triglycerides and C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation.

But it was a different story among those with high DHA and EPA levels. These individuals had similar triglyceride and C-reactive protein levels to normal-weight people.

Dr Makhoul says that the Yup’ik Eskimos offer a unique opportunity to study whether omega-3 fats change the link between obesity and chronic disease risk. "It appeared that high intakes of omega-3-rich seafood protected Yup’ik Eskios from some of the harmful effects of obesity."

The study is published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The authors say that the Eskimos have a significantly lower rate of type 2 diabetes than the rest of the US – 3.3 per cent versus 7.7 per cent.

Dr Makhoul said: "It is reasonable to ask, based on our findings, whether the lower prevalence of diabetes in this population might be attributed, at least in part, to their high consumption of omega-3-rich fish."

Makhoul, Z. et al. Associations of obesity with triglycerides and C-reactive protein are attenuated in adults with high red blood cell eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published online March 23, 2011.