Effects of Seal Oil on Meal-Induced Symptoms and Gastric Accommodation in Patients with Subjective Food Hypersensitivity: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Food hypersensitivity is a prevalent condition with poorly characterized underlying mechanisms. In the present pilot study we investigated effects of seal oil and soy oil on meal-induced symptoms and gastric accommodation in patients with subjective food hypersensitivity (FH). Single dose experiment: On three consecutive days, 10 mL of seal oil, soy oil, or saline were randomly administered into the duodenum of 10 patients with subjective FH and 10 healthy volunteers through a nasoduodenal feeding tube 10-20 minutes before the ingestion of a test meal. Short-term treatment study: 24 patients with subjective FH were randomly allocated to 10 days' treatment with either 10 mL of seal or soy oil, self-administrated through an indwelling nasoduodenal feeding tube, 3 times daily. In both experiments meal-induced abdominal symptoms and gastric accommodation were measured by visual analogue scales and external ultrasound respectively.

Duodenal administered seal oil for patients with subjective food hypersensitivity: an explorative open pilot study

“…Interestingly, following 10-day intraduodenal administration of seal oil in the present study, gastrointestinal, as well as nongastrointestinal, symptoms were significantly attenuated and QoL was consistently improved. The results thus corroborate our previous findings of beneficial effects of similarly administrated seal oil on gastrointestinal complaints in patients with subjective food hypersensitivity and on joint pain in patients with IBD 19,20…”

“…Although tube administration is an invasive and cumbersome procedure, the treatment was remarkably well tolerated and largely without side effects. The therapeutic benefit observed following this short-term therapy suggests that a rapid effect is achieved by administrating seal oil directly into the duodenum using feeding tube 17–20,34. No direct comparative study of oral versus duodenal administration of marine oils for pain relief exists, but it is worth noticing that seal oil orally administrated for 14 days showed no significant effect in patients with IBD or psoriatic arthritis 35,36.…”

“…The tube (Freka ® Feeding Tube, Fresenius Kabi, GmbH, Hesse, Germany) was positioned with its tip to the lower duodenum by aid of fluoroscopy. As in our prior studies,17–20 the patients self-administered 10 mL of seal oil via the tube, 3 times/day for 10 days, while they were instructed not to alter their background diet. This amount of seal oil is equivalent to a daily intake of approximately 2.4 g EPA, 1.1 g DPA, and 2.6 g DHA, that is, 6.1 g of long-chain n -3 PUFA, which is approximately the double dose of that required to achieve anti-inflammatory effect in rheumatoid arthritis (2.7 g EPA and DHA day −1 ) 13…”

Perceived food hypersensitivity: A review of 10 years of interdisciplinary research at a reference center

“…When given daily for 10 days, seal oil, but not soy oil, reduced total symptom scores significantly without changing gastric accommodation. The results from this pilot study showed that daily administration of seal oil may benefit patients with food hypersensitivity [88]. However, the beneficial effect of seal oil in these patients could not be ascribed to improved gastric accommodation.…”

Direct determination of serotonin in gut lavage fluid by liquid chromatographic ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

“…The therapeutic benefit observed following this short-term strategy suggests that a rapid booster effect may be achieved by duodenal administration of seal oil [90,91,111,112,113].…”