Approximately 29 million people are currently diagnosed with diabetes in the US. Some of these people have type 1, some have type 2, some use exercise and diet to fight the disease, while others haven’t done anything and are looking for an easy way out.
One of these “easy way outs” that people consider are omega fatty acid supplements.
But the real question is this enough to reverse the disease.
THE FATTY ACIDS
The omega fatty acid family for humans is made up of 3 essential fatty acids; omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9. Omega-3 and omega-6 are fatty acids that cannot be synthesized in the body and must be ingested for various biological processes.
Omega-9 is a fatty acid that can be synthesized in the body but the body requires enough omega-3 and omega-6 for this to happen. As for the role of the fatty acids inside the body omega-6 has a very different role than the other two, its role in the body is to promote inflammation and therefore should not be considered for a treatment for diabetes.
The next fatty acid is omega-9. This fatty acid seems like a great candidate for a short cut supplement because it is naturally found in the body and it is known to have anti-inflammatory affects along with reducing insulin resistance.
But in reality it is not a great candidate because the body requires both the ingestion of omega-3 and omega-6 for the synthesis of omega-9. Now all that remains to discuss is omega-3.
Omega-3 supplements are the supplements that people believe will and can reverse the affects of diabetes to a certain point. The reason for this belief is because omega-3 fatty acids are also known to have anti-inflammatory affects along with reducing insulin resistance in the body.
The other reason people believe that this can be a quick fix is because it is not a fatty acid that is produced in the body, which means they can take supplements and they can take as many of them as they want.
HOW DOES OMEGA-3 WORK?
Since omega-3 is the fatty acid people believe that will reverse some of the affects of diabetes the next part of the puzzle is understanding how omega-3 works within the body. Omega-3 words in the body by first binding to G-protein coupled receptor 120 (GPR120).
The biding to this receptor in the body then causes reaction in the body that release a protein (beta-arr 2) which then directly inhibits an important complex (TAB1-TAK1). The complex that this protein is inhibiting is responsible for the transcription of inflammatory genes that eventually result in insulin resistance in the body. So by inhibiting this complex omega-3 fatty acids are able to prevent inflammation genes from being transcribed and also prevent insulin resistance from occurring.
END OF THE STORY?
So this should be the end of the story, everyone should just take omega-3 supplements and the end result would be the diminishing of diabetes.
But you may be asking yourself why this isn’t the case.
The one big misconception of omega-3 fatty acids is that this pathway will work no matter what. People believe that a person’s diet or exercise regiment will not matter but frankly that is not the case. According to research constant overeating of either healthy or unhealthy food can over power the affects of omega-3 fatty acids.
So ultimately the quick fix cure that people are looking for does not exist. Yes, omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce the affects of diabetes but they cannot do it alone. People still need to eat healthy and eat a reasonable amount in order for this pathway to work. The researchers did also hint that exercise would not be a bad idea either.
