(26-11-15) Omega-3s Improve Reproductive Hormone Profile in Normal-Weight Women

By Anne Harding November 13, 2015
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation is associated with a reduction in folliclestimulating hormone (FSH) levels in normal-weight women, new research shows.
Reproductive hormone levels didn't change in obese women given omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs),
however. But these women did show a reduction in markers of inflammation after one month of supplementation, Dr.Alex Polotsky of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora and colleagues report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online November 2.
Women are already using omega-3 PUFA supplementation to improve reproductive function, Dr. Polotsky noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.
"There's really not enough evidence from this study or other studies in the literature to support an evidence-based
recommendation, but the reality is that women are doing it anyway, and there's very little information available from clinical studies on any impact of omega-3 fatty acids on reproductive markers and reproductive hormones," he added.
In mice, Dr. Polotsky and his colleagues note, dietary omega-3 PUFAs have been shown to slow ovarian aging and improve oocyte quality. To test if omega-3s might have similar effects in humans, the researchers had 15 obese and 12 normal-weight women take 4 grams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) daily for one month. The women were 28 to 34 years old, and all were eumenorrheic.
Both groups showed a significant reduction in their ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFA. Among the normal-weight women, supplementation was linked to a reduction in FSH and FSH response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) of 17%, on average (p=0.06 and p=0.03, respectively).
Obese women showed a mean 72% reduction in levels of interleukin-1 beta and a 56% drop in tumor necrosis factor alpha levels (both p<0.05).
However, omega-3s did not affect inflammatory markers in the normal-weight women, and did not change reproductive hormones in the obese women.
"It is encouraging that it appears to be safe and also appears to be effective in improving inflammation, but we need to study it more on a larger scale to really prove or disprove a significant impact on outcomes that really matter to women, such as pregnancy rates, neonatal health, and live births," Dr. Polotsky said. "This was more of a preliminary step."
It's not clear why omega-3 PUFA supplementation had different effects in the obese and normal-weight women, he added. "It's possible that there are other mechanisms that are implicated in obese women," he said. "It's also possible that you may need to take it for a longer period."
Nevertheless, an improvement in inflammation could have reproductive health benefits in and of itself for obese
women, Dr. Polotsky added. "Inflammation is really emerging as the key mechanism that mediates reproductive
impairment in obese women."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1GYc5hW
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2015.

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.