Omega-3-rich fish reduces risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Eating fish is good for health and reduces the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Omega-3s contained in fish reduce the risk of developing chronic disorders associated with obesity, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is confirmed by studies conducted by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks (United States), whose findings were published in the pages of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Confirmations from the cold North
The research involved the Yup'ik Eskimos, an indigenous population of the Alaskan territories that consumes 20 times the amount of fatty fish, rich in Omega-3, than is typical in the diets of other countries in the United States. While this population has obesity rates similar to those of the rest of the U.S. population, it has a much lower number of cases of type 2 diabetes. While, in fact, the average incidence of this condition in the population is 7.7 percent, only 3.3 percent of Yup'ik have type 2 diabetes. These data are reminiscent of what has been observed in another population of the global north, the Inuit of Greenland. As early as 40 years ago, Jørn Dyerberg and colleagues observed that this Eskimo population, despite eating a diet rich in fats-particularly, fish rich in Omega-3-was characterized a death rate from cardiovascular disorders that was among the lowest in the world. Since then, several studies have clarified the role played by Omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Years of research have confirmed that these molecules improve blood lipid levels, reduce the risk of thrombosis, promote good vascular system function, and improve blood pressure values and heart rate.
Omega-3 for triglycerides and inflammation
The new research involved 330 Yup'ik with an average age of 45 years. At the beginning of the study, 70 percent of the participants suffered from overweight or obesity. Based on the hypothesis that the low incidence of type 2 diabetes could be at least partly attributed to high consumption of Omega-3 rich fish, the authors conducted blood tests aimed at quantifying the levels of triglycerides, EPA and DHA in the Yup'ik's blood. They found that while participants in whom low amounts of Omega-3 were detected had high triglyceride levels, higher blood concentrations of EPA and DHA did not correspond to increased triglycerides. On the contrary, although obese, people characterized by high plasma Omega-3 concentrations had triglyceride values similar to those of normal-weight individuals. The same correlation was also found in the case of C-reactive protein, an important marker of inflammation processes. And since both triglycerides and C-reactive protein are two independent markers of the risk of developing cardiovascular disorders and, probably, diabetes, the existence of this correlation would at least partly explain the low incidence of this disease in the Yup'ik population. These findings could have important implications from the perspective of preventing obesity-associated diseases. In fact, the authors explain, chronic intake of levated levels of EPA and DHA, similar to those typical of the Yup'ik diet, could help improve the risk of obesity-associated diseases.
