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The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Asthma

Abstract

Asthma is a lung condition that leaves many children and adults unable to live their life to the fullest potential. Current research is being conducted on whether or not the amount of omega3 fatty acids in a person’s diet can alleviate asthmatic symptoms or potentially even eradicate asthma. The goal of this literature review is to analyze the various experimental set ups that different researchers use to investigate the health effects of omega-3 fatty acids in diets. All the experiments were done on human subjects, and the omega-3 fatty acids were administered to the patients through a fish oil gel or the researchers conducted an analysis of the patients’ current dietary habits. It was found that when omega-3 fatty acids were supplemented through pregnancy and continued on in children, there was a positive effect on asthmatic symptoms, but if supplementation was in young adults, there was little to no effect on asthma.

Introduction

Many people know that eating fish, seeds, or nuts are healthy for you. Some may even know that these healthy foods contain omega-3 fatty acids, which can help with heart disease or brain health. However, not many people know that omega-3 fatty acids can potentially help alleviate asthma. Asthma is a lung condition that results from an allergic reaction to minor substances, such as pollen or dust, and makes it harder to breath, causes wheezing or coughing, 2 and can even be life-threatening. Asthma is very common, as it affects children and adults alike, making it an important issue to concentrate on.

The objective of this literature review is to analyze and compare the methods that different research studies have used in order to examine the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on asthma. The articles were chosen to be used in this literature review because they were all scholarly and in peer-reviewed journals that were reputable and unbiased. The review will be organized by the steps of the methods that were used within the articles chosen. Within each category, the methodologies of each of the four studies will be compared and contrasted with each other. The current trend in research is that with the supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids, there will be a positive improvement on the symptoms of asthma.

Methods

Subjects

Each research group used human subjects for experimentation upon whether omega-3 fatty acids had an effect on asthma (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018). The investigations were done on different numbers of people, some with as small as 39 patients (Farjadian et al. 2016), some with 616 (Mihrshahi et al. 2004) or with 736 women (Neutze et al. 2018), or some with as many as 1601 adults (Woods et al. 2004). Some of the testing was focused on the supposed supplementary benefits of omega-3 fatty acids post-birth (Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016) or primarily through 3 2004; Neutze et al. 2018) (with the additional checkups at the ages of 30 months and 3,4, and 5 years old (Neutze et al. 2018)).

Mode of Supplementation

All studies were focused primarily on the supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids in their subjects (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018). Some of the studies had investigated the supplementation of the plasma long chain omega-3 fatty acids on adults with and without asthma through their regular diet (no external supplementation) (Woods et al. 2004). Others had the pregnant women and the infants take an omega-3 fatty acid rich tuna fish oil supplement or a placebo (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Neutze et al. 2018). Conversely, some simply required that the patients took a gel capsule that contained 180 mg EPA and 120 mg DHA daily for 3 months (Farjadian et al. 2016). Some were also given either canola-based oil and spreads (rich in omega 3 fatty acids) in tandem with the fish oil supplement and further restricted those with the placebo with Sunola oil and margarine (lacking in omega-3 fatty acids) (Mihrshahi et al. 2004).

Post-Supplemental Testing

As the focus of the studies was the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on asthma, after the supplementation was conducted, there were post-tests that were administered on the subjects of the studies. Some of the studies conducted a spirometry for a pulmonary function test or general lung function tests (Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018). Others administered a skin-prick test to their subjects to see if there was an allergic reaction akin to asthma (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Woods et al. 2004). Two of the studies also analyzed the fatty acid concentration (Mihrshahi et al. 2004) or their fatty acid percentage and compared that to their symptoms of asthma (Woods et al. 2004). One of the studies called for a multiplex 4 cytometric bead assay to measure the serum for Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, and Th22 cytokines of the patients (Farjadian et al. 2016). Another study had also analyzed the blood content of the subject to determine their serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels (Mihrshahi et al. 2004). Alternatively, one study did not do any biological assays but instead had a daily recording of the persistent wheezing/asthmatic occurrences for the children, the use of inhaled beta-agonists, and/or relapses after they had the use of inhaled glucocorticoids (Neutze et al. 2018).

Statistical Analysis

All of the studies conducted a statistical analysis of the data that they had collected (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018). The studies had all generated p-values in order to conduct group comparisons (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018). One study used the Shapiro-Wilk test to create a distribution of the data and find the quartile ranges and the McNemar test for the qualitative changes in the spirometry parameter (cut off at 80%) (Farjadian et al. 2016). Two of the studies used SPSS computer software in order to analyze the results (Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016). The Mann-Whitney comparison test was used to compare the asthmatic symptoms to sex and family history of asthma (Woods et al. 2004; Farjadadian et al. 2016). The Spearman rank correlation was used to calculate the indices in the spirometry or the asthmatic symptoms in comparison to the age or BMI of the subjects (Woods et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016). Some of the subjects were also first separated into their quintile of plasma omega-3 fatty acid concentrations which subsequent chi-square trend tests as well as geometric mean values for the IgE levels in blood were based on (Mihrshahi et al. 2004).

Experimental Results

There were conflicting results shown about the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on asthma and symptoms of asthma, with some having positive results (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Farjadian et al. 2016; Neutze et al. 2018) and others having either no effect or a slight effect (Woods et al. 2004). With the treatment of omega-3 fatty acids using a soft gel capsule in children, symptoms improved in 72% of patients (Farjadian et al. 2016) and with the administration of the omega-3 supplement starting at pregnancy, symptoms (such as wheezing, doctor visits due to wheezing, bronchodilator use, as well as nocturnal coughing) were also reduced (Mihrshahi et al. 2004). In all children who had fish oil administered from pregnancy until they were 5 years old, there was a lowered risk of asthma by the time they were 3-5 years old (Neutze et al. 2018). However, it was found that omega-3 fatty acids had no association with reduced risk of asthma or atopy in young adults; in fact, it was found that omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (DHGLA) had a positive effect on asthma instead (Woods et al. 2004).

Conclusion

In this literature review, the hypothesis that omega-3 fatty acids could potentially be used to help alleviate asthmatic symptoms was supported. However, it was not supported that omega3 fatty acids at any stage in life is effective. Based on the findings, it was shown that the most successful use of omega-3 supplementation is when it is administered when the mother is pregnant and had a continued use into the childhood years (Mihrshahi et al. 2004; Neutze et al. 2018) rather than when used in the young adult years (Woods et al. 2004). This is significant because the additional use of omega-3 fatty acids can hypothetically lead to a decreased prevalence of childhood asthma, freeing a huge population of the world from being held back by their lung condition. In the future, more research can be done on which stage of pregnancy 6 exactly the supplementation should begin at as well as study on how different amounts of omega-3 fatty acid dosages effects asthma.

References

Farjadian S, Moghtaderi M, Kalani M, Gholami T, Teshnizi SH. 2016. Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on serum levels of T-helper cytokines in children with asthma. Cyto 85:61–66. doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2016.06.002

Mihrshahi S, Peat JK, Webb K, Oddy W, Marks GB, Mellis CM. 2004. Effect of omega-3 fatty acid concentrations in plasma on symptoms of asthma at 18 months of age. Ped Alle and Imm 15(6):517–522. [accessed 2019 Apr 30]. https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ccnyproxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=7b031a9e-49de-4211-89cb4124913d510f@sessionmgr101. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3038.2004.00187.x

Neutze D, Evans K, Koenig M, Castelli G, Mounsey A. 2018. Does fish oil during pregnancy help prevent asthma in kids? Jour of Fam Prac 67. [accessed 2019 Apr 30]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5810307/pdf/JFP-67-100.pdf

Woods RK, Raven JM, Walters EH, Abramason MJ, Thien FC. 2004. Fatty acid levels and risk of asthma in young adults. Tho 59(2):105–110. [accessed 2019 Apr 30]. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih- 7 gov.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/pmc/articles/PMC1746920/pdf/v059p00105.pdf. doi:10.1136/thorax.2003.009498