Fish oil is a good source of the omega 3 fatty acids docosahexanoic acid and eicosapentanoic acid. These long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids have shown possible therapeutic benefits to obese and overweight individuals because they are able to increase insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue. In addition, they appear able to shift fuel utilisation away from glucose oxidation and towards fat oxidation. For example, in a study in the British Journal of Nutrition in 20031 tested the sub maximal fuel utilisation of six active healthy men after consumption of fish oil. The study demonstrated that supplementation of 6 grams of fish oil for 3 weeks resulted in a 21 % decrease in stimulation of glucose from glycogen stores and a 26 % decrease in the disappearance of glucose from the plasma, with a concomitant increase in fatty acid oxidation in muscle.
These data suggest that the subjects were experiencing a compensatory switch in fuel utilisation away from carbohydrate and towards fatty acids. Indeed, the authors concluded that fish oil consumption in the gram range was able to increase the proportion fat oxidation substituting for carbohydrate oxidation. They also suggested that the decreased glucose release from the liver was linked by a feedback mechanism to the decreased glucose uptake by the muscle, because the changes in both were similar, such that overall there was no change in blood sugar levels. These results support other studies that have shown a similar switch in fuel utilisation in resting subjects taking fish oil supplements, although in these studies the effect was even greater. Supplementation with fish oil capsules containing eicosapentanoic acid and docosahexanoic acid appears to be a useful adjuncts to any weight loss regime.
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