Omega-3 Fatty Acids Compensate For The Disadvantages Of A High-Fat Diet

Omega-3 fatty acids protect against the health disadvantages of a high-fat diet, as shown in a study. This was published in The Journal of Physiology in the summer of 2016. It showed that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids has the power to prevent all of the harmful metabolic disorders associated with high-fat diets.

The consequences of a high-fat diet

Anyone who eats a high-fat diet has to reckon with a number of health disadvantages. These include weight gain, elevated cholesterol levels, and insulin resistance (pre-diabetes). Now obesity and type 2 diabetes are not far away.

A high-fat diet has such a negative effect on the metabolism that there are numerous changes in the organism that sooner or later make you seriously ill:

• Adiponectin levels drop The more fat a person eats, the lower their adiponectin levels drop. Adiponectin is a substance that is made in fat cells. The more fat cells a person has and the fuller they are, the less adiponectin is produced. However, the less adiponectin a person produces, the higher their risk of suffering from vascular damage and developing diabetes
  Interleukin-6 level increases: Interleukin-6 is a cytokine, i.e. a messenger substance that promotes chronic inflammatory processes when the level is elevated. With a high-fat diet and the associated secondary diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity), the interleukin-6 level is always chronically elevated, which helps to continuously worsen the condition and e.g. B. contributes to insulin resistance.
• Tumor necrosis factor level increases: The tumor necrosis factor-alpha is also an inflammatory messenger substance which, when the level is elevated, also increases the tendency for blood to clot (makes the blood thicker and promotes thrombosis), accelerates insulin resistance and can damage the vascular walls. With a high-fat diet, tumor necrosis factor levels rise chronically.
  Increased de novo lipogenesis: With a long-term high-fat diet, excess carbohydrates are converted to fat and stored more quickly. This is because a high-fat diet stimulates insulin resistance, which can be associated with high insulin levels. This in turn promotes the so-called de novo lipogenesis, i.e. the formation of fat from (excess!) carbohydrates.
• Increased lipolysis: fat cells in the visceral fat tissue (belly cavity) are particularly prone to insulin resistance. These cells increasingly release free fatty acids (lipolysis). Conversely, free fatty acids promote insulin resistance, they disrupt glucose metabolism and inhibit insulin secretion in the long term, even leading to cell death of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

The power of omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids can have a positive effect on all of these mechanisms and the disadvantages of a high-fat diet. No wonder they have been traded almost as a panacea for years. They are said to help with weight loss, increase fertility, improve skin health and improve energy status, among many other benefits.

Not all claims can be traced back to thorough scientific work, but the influence on the above-mentioned metabolic processes is hardly in doubt anymore.

Omega-3 fatty acids are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that include eicosapentaenoic acid EPA and docosahexaenoic acid DHA. Both are known to improve insulin sensitivity (prevent diabetes) and have anti-inflammatory effects. Blood fat levels are also reduced in their presence – and so is being overweight.

A team of researchers from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, has now investigated how exactly a dietary supplement with omega-3 fatty acids influences the various metabolic pathways when a person habitually practices a high-fat diet.

Omega-3 fatty acids stop the negative influence of a high-fat diet

As expected, a high-fat diet without the concomitant intake of omega-3 fatty acids caused significant and highly deleterious changes in a variety of metabolic processes described above.

All of these changes, however, only occurred in those not taking omega-3 fatty acids. The disorders described did not occur in the metabolism of those who took omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, the negative effects on metabolism that a high-fat diet normally causes have been stopped by the omega-3 fatty acids.

Team leader Professor Maria Isabel Alonso-Vale explained:

Our research results show that dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids should definitely be part of a catalog of measures to prevent type 2 diabetes and obesity.”