Obesity is a symptom of the metabolic syndrome, which in turn is caused by low quality diets containing high amounts of fructose. High fructose intakes are deleterious to metabolic regulation because they induce insulin resistance in hepatocytes and skeletal muscle. This leads to the accumulation of lipids, particularly around the intestinal viscera. As visceral fat accumulates macrophages influx to the adipocytes and cause the release of cytokines in an immune reaction. These adipose cytokines (adipokines) then cause systemic inflammation. Reversing the fructose induced insulin resistance in skeletal muscle can be achieved with intense physical activity such as resistance training. However, only improvements in diet quality can reverse the hepatic dysfunction and fatty liver. Fish oils may be beneficial in treating the metabolic syndrome because they reduce the production of inflammatory adipokines that can cause associated disorders such as cardiovascular disease.
The ability of fish oil supplements to reduce the inflammation associated with chronic adipose inflammation has been reported in the nutritional literature. For example, in one study1, non-diabetic but obese subjects were administered either 3.36 grams per day of fish oils containing both eicosapentanoic acid (EPA, C20:5 (n-3)) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA, C22:6 (n-3)) or a butterfat control. After 8 weeks, those subjects consuming the long-chain fatty acids from fish oils had a decrease in the gene expression for inflammatory cytokines associated with visceral adipose tissue. There was also a significant reduction in circulating levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6). In addition, plasma triglyceride levels also decreased in the subjects consuming the fish oil supplements, which supports previous finding in this regard. There was also a trend towards increased concentrations of the anti-inflammatory cytokine adiponectin, but this was not significant.
The authors reported no adverse affects of fish oil supplementation suggesting that the treatment was not only effective, but also well tolerated. Consumption of the supplements shifted the mean n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio by 10.58 in the treatment group compared to 0.15 in the control group. These results support other findings in that fish oil supplements cause the accumulation of long-chain fatty acids in cell membranes and this has systemic anti-inflammatory effects. Because the inflammation associated with abdominal obesity is thought to increase the risk of serious disease, nutritional strategies that can reduce this inflammation could have particular health benefits. Fish oils appear to be one such food that may be an effective and safe treatment for the diseases associated with metabolic syndrome. The benefits of fish oils in protecting from cardiovascular disease are well researched and may be explained by these anti-inflammatory effects.
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