DHA suppress stress in pregnant women

Taking omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosohexanenoic acid) might be helpful to reduce stress in pregnant women living in high-stress environment. The supplement lower cortisol levels ad improve developmental outcomes of infants in the womb. The study was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology. 

                                                          

The study included 64 black women between 16 and 21 weeks of pregnancy. The subjects were aged 20-30 years and lived in low-income environment. The participants were randomly treated with either 450 mg of DHA or a placebo, every day. The stress levels were checked by self-reported questionnaire and saliva test samples at the start date of the study, 24^th week and 30^th weeks of pregnancy. The stress response to various mental exercises, math problems and speech was tested. Significant reduction in stress levels at 30^th week of pregnancy with reduced cortisol levels was observed in DHA-treated women, compared with non-treated women. Suppressed cortisol is believed to be beneficial for infants in terms of developmental skills.

The blood DHA levels of low-income pregnant women were much lower than normal levels, the authors noted.

Eating oily fish could cut breast cancer risk

Eating oily fish could cut breast cancer risk including triple-negative breast cancer, said scientists from Fox Chase Center. Oily fishes including Sardines and Salmon contains abundant levels of Omega-3 fatty acids that can either stop or slow growth of breast cancer cells. However, Omega-3 fatty acids are least effective against luminal cancer cells.                                                                                                                                                  

Several published reports documented the beneficial effects of Omega-3 fatty acids against several cancers. However, the present study confirmed the efficacy of Omega-3 fatty acids present in oily fishes against triple-negative breast cancer cell lines. In-vitro studies confirmed nearly 90% killing of cancer cells by omega-3 fatty acids.

Vegetarian sources such as hemp and flax seeds are also the good source of Omega-3 fatty acids.

Cancer cells are characterized by immortality and abnormal rapid proliferative nature. Cancer cells evade programmed cell death (Apoptosis) by tweaking or evading the self-suicidal mechanism of cell cycle process. Several molecular mechanisms of cancer cells are unknown. The cancer targeting nature of Omega-3 fatty acids adversely affect the abnormal proliferation and programmed cell death of the cell.

According to Dr. Thomas Pogash, Scientific Technician at Fox Chase Cancer Center Lab, the present study confirmed the importance of natural foods that keep dreadful diseases such as cancer at bay.

When compared Western diets with Mediterranean diets, oily fish dishes are of immense importance in the latter. The incidences of cancers are uncommon among Mediterranean dieters, said Thomas.

Cancer cells rapidly uptake Omega-3 fatty acids and digested into smaller biomolecules called active metabolites.

The research team tested the efficacy of large Omega-3 fatty acids and its metabolites on human cell lines including basal-type triple negative cancer cells and luminal cancer cells.

Parent Omega-3 fatty acid molecules and its metabolites effectively prevented cancer cell line proliferation in all cancers. However, dramatic effectiveness was observed in triple-negative cancer cell lines.

Metabolites significantly prevented the motility and proliferative of triple-negative basal cancer cell lines by 20-60%.

Mediterranean diet may be better but not the best

Mediterranean diet is being the hot topic in nutrition that attracts media attention in the recent years. We’re often confused about the diet that should be followed for a healthy life. Mediterranean diet may be better but not the best, says researchers and nutrition experts. They said all diets need extensive research studies, and recent research study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2013) on Mediterranean diets was seriously flawed.

For a good study design, to assess the health benefits of Mediterranean diet, it should be compared with a proven, low-fat diet with heart-protective foods, rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

In a recently published study, Mediterranean diet was compared with ‘low-fat’ diet. However, in real, it was not a ‘low-fat’ diet. The trial participants who consumed so-called ‘low-fat’ diet were on 39% fat diet, prior to the study, and they reduced to just 37% while participating the study.  

Several nutritionists questioned the study-design of the research. Actually, it was not a real low-fat diet but very high-fat food, the experts concerned. Some of the so-called ‘low-fat’ foods used to compare with Mediterranean diets were sugary sodas, red meat, baked foods with refined flour and fats with low-fat cheeses.

The study particularly excluded the foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as Pacific cods.

In essence, the study didn’t compare Mediterranean diet with really nutritious low-fat diets. In fact, the study compared Mediterranean diet with a typical American diet but not a real ‘low-fat’ diet.

So, based on the study results, Mediterranean diet can be better than American diet in terms of health and heart benefits.