Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and body weight

Abstract

In animal studies, n-3 PUFA have been shown to influence body composition and to reduce the accumulation of body fat, thereby affecting body weight homeostasis. In addition, it has been suggested that an additional supply of n-3 PUFA during pregnancy or lactation, or both, would have a beneficial effect on birth weight and infant growth and development. The purpose of the present study was to systematically review interventional clinical trials on the effects of dietary n-3 PUFA supplementation on body weight in adult subjects and in infants whose mothers were supplemented with these fatty acids during pregnancy and/or lactation. A systematic search, focused on n-3 PUFA and body weight, and limited to controlled clinical trials, was performed in different databases. The quality of all included studies was assessed against set criteria, and results of eligible trials were compared. There were few studies targeting this topic. In adults, all of the five studies included, except for one, show no change in body weight by dietary supplementation with n-3 PUFA. Within those trials conducted in pregnant and/or lactating women in which a main outcome was birth weight or growth in infancy, two showed a modest increase in birth weight and the rest showed no effect. None of the trials showed an effect of maternal n-3 PUFA supplementation on infant's weight at the short term. However, it should be noted that a number of limitations, including a variety of experimental designs, type and doses of n-3 PUFA, and high attrition rates, among others, make impossible to draw robust conclusions from this review.

Simultaneous Effects of Green Tea Extracts and Fish Oil on Mercury Accumulation and Antioxidant Defenses in Methylmercury-exposed Adult Mice

“…Previous reports have indicated that dietary GTE and FO can reduce body weight by increasing fat oxidation (Rains et al, 2011;Martínez-Victoria and Yago, 2012;Buckley and Howe, 2010;Sae-Tan et al, 2011). Previously, we showed that FO intake also reduced Hg accumulation in muscle and led to loss of body weight in MeHg-exposed mice (Shirai et al, 2012).…”

Role of Dietary Fats in the Prevention and Treatment of the Metabolic Syndrome

“…In a controlled 16-week study in overweight and moderately obese healthy adults, increasing the dietary content of n-3 PUFA to 3.6%E mainly from fish oil had no effect on body weight or fat mass [56]. A recent review reached a similar conclusion [57]. Thus, fish or n-3 PUFA intakes may have little effect on body weight or weight gain.…”

Optimal nutrition in lactating women and its effect on later health of offspring: A systematic review of current evidence and recommendations (EarlyNutrition project)

“…Seven of the included publications on maternal long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) supplementation were systematic reviews (Muhlhausler et al, 2010;Campoy et al, 2012;Rodriguez et al, 2012;Martinez-Victoria and Yago, 2012;Koletzko et al, 2014b;Stratakis et al, 2014;DelgadoNoguera et al, 2015), one of which a Cochrane review (Delgado-Noguera et al, 2015). The remaining 3 documents were original reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (Jensen et al, 2010;Bergmann et al, 2012;Hauner et al, 2012) (Table 3).…”