FISH OIL REDUCES PREVALENCE OF PERIODONTAL DISEASES
FISH OIL REDUCES PREVALENCE OF PERIODONTAL DISEASES There is yet new evidence to suggest fish oil is good for you. The Mayo Clinic reports omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil are good for reducing high blood pressure, while researchers
FISH OIL REDUCES PREVALENCE OF PERIODONTAL DISEASES
There is yet new evidence to suggest fish oil is good for you. The Mayo Clinic reports omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are good for reducing high blood pressure, while researchers at Yale find they may help prevent stroke. At Harvard, however, scientists recently put omega-3 fatty acids under the microscope and linked their anti-inflammatory properties to a possible treatment for periodontal diseases. Their findings suggest a diet-based therapy to combat gum disease could soon become a reality.
“A dietary therapy, if effective, might be a less expensive and safer method for the prevention and treatment of periodontitis,” notes Asghar Z. Naqvi, MD, of the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and lead author of the study. The researchers investigated polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish oil, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Scientists analyzed quantities of DHA and EPA from data previously recorded in a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Naqvi’s team studied more than 9,000 adults and found periodontal diseases present in 8.2% of the sample population. Among the study subjects who consumed the greatest concentrations of DHA, a 20% reduction in prevalence of periodontitis was observed. Consumption of EPA yielded a smaller reduction in prevalence that was still statistically significant.
Two fatty-fish meals per week are currently recommended by the American Heart Association, according to Kenneth J. Mukamal, MD, Harvard Medical School associate professor, and senior author of the study that is published in the November 2010 Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Elizabeth Krall Kaye, PhD, professor, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, noted the impact of the findings on periodontal treatment in an accompanying commentary. Krall Kaye observes that reduced odds of periodontal diseases were attained through only moderate consumption of DHA and EPA. She also notes there seems to be a threshold dose at which the effects of the fatty acids remain stable no matter how high of a concentration is consumed. Finally, Krall Kay says results did not differ when dietary intake of the omega-3s plus supplemental intakes were examined.
Sources: Elsevier Publications; The Harvard Crimson
The benefits of omega-3 fatty acids from just two meals would “fit well within the range of intake in which we saw lower levels of periodontitis,” Mukamal adds.
