Evidence Hub

Potential therapeutic impact of omega-3 long chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids on inflammation markers in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A double-blind, controlled randomized trial

M. Rodríguez-Cruz, Oriana del Rocío Cruz-Guzmán, Tomás Almeida‐Becerril, Alan Donovan Solís-Serna, Salvador Atilano-Miguel, Juan Raúl Sánchez-González, L. Barbosa-Cortés, E. Ruíz-Cruz et al.

Clinical Nutrition, 2017

36 participants · 43 citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is the most frequent dystrophy in childhood generated by a deficiency in dystrophin. DMD is a neuromuscular disease and its clinical course comprises chronic inflammation and gradual muscle weakness. Supplementation of omega-3 long chain-Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (ω-3 long chain-PUFA) reduces inflammatory markers in various disorders. The goal of this research was to analyze the influence of ω-3 long chain-PUFA intake on gene expression and blood inflammatory markers in boys with DMD.

METHODS

In a placebo-controlled, double. Blind, randomized trial, boys with DMD (n = 36) consumed 2.9 g/day of ω-3 long chain-PUFA or sunflower oil as control, in capsules, for a period of 6 months. Blood was analyzed at baseline and at months 1, 2, 3, and 6 of supplementation for expression of inflammatory markers in leukocytes and serum.

RESULTS

There was high adherence to capsule intake (control: 95.3% ± 7.2%, and ω-3 long chain-PUFA: 97.4% ± 3.7% at month 6). Enrichment of EicosaPentaenoic Acid (EPA) and DocosaHexaenoic Acid (DHA) in erythrocytes increased significantly in patients supplemented with ω-3 long chain-PUFA compared with the placebo group during the 6 months of supplementation. Messenger RNA (mRNA) of the Nuclear Factor kappa beta (NF-κB) and its target genes InterLeukin 1 beta (IL-1β) and IL-6 was downregulated significantly (p < 0.05) in leukocytes from DMD boys supplemented with ω-3 long chain-PUFA for 6 months, compared…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 36 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free