Omega-3 for Children: More Fish, Less Asthma?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Children who eat fish more often may develop asthma less often. However, this does not apply to everyone: Certain genes are decisive for the effectiveness of the omega-3 cure. But they are common.

Omega-3 fatty acids can counteract chronic inflammatory processes in the body. British researchers have investigated whether this also has an impact on the risk of asthma in children.

A large long-term study provided data on this: the “Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children” (ALSPAC) followed children born in the 1990s while their mothers were pregnant.

Eating fish at the age of seven

Among other things, the parents were asked several times about the diet of the children when they reached the age of seven. A team led by Shaheen from Queen Mary University of London has now evaluated whether the fish consumption of the children at this age had an impact on their later risk of asthma at 11 or 14 years of age.

In relation to the entire group of 4542 children, there was initially no clear difference. But things looked different when the researchers took into account the genetic makeup of the young test subjects.

Gene variant lowers omega-3 levels in the blood

The FADS2 gene plays a decisive role in this. More than half of the children owned the rs1535 variant. It makes it more difficult for the body to produce the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on a plant basis. Accordingly, the children had lower levels of these fatty acids in their blood.

Half as many asthma cases

Fish consumption had a significant effect on them: for the 25 percent who had eaten fish most frequently, the probability of developing asthma was only half as high as for the 25 percent who ate particularly little fish. Data from a Swedish study confirmed the link.

The results could be of practical use: A blood test can determine whether children carry the unfavorable gene variant. Regular fish meals or the administration of fish oil capsules could then significantly reduce the risk of chronic respiratory disease.

Targeted Investigations

However, such an observational study does not yet provide any evidence of a causal relationship. Other, previously unknown factors could be the actual reason for the observation. However, real evidence could be provided by studies in which, at random, a group of children with the genetic trait regularly receives fish oil capsules and the rest a placebo.

Fish oil capsules as a dietary supplement?

Fish oil capsules with omega-3 fatty acids are among the most popular dietary supplements. Many people hope this will help prevent heart disease and dementia. So far, however, the study situation on the effectiveness is not clear in this respect either. It cannot be ruled out that a clearer picture would emerge in these contexts too if people with different genetic variants were considered separately.

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