Abstract
A causal link between increased intake of omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and increased incidence of allergic disease has been suggested. This is supported by biologically plausible mechanisms, related to the roles of eicosanoid mediators produced from the n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid. Fish and fish oils are sources of long chain omega-3 (n-3) PUFAs. These fatty acids act to oppose the actions of n-6 PUFAs particularly with regard to eicosanoid synthesis. Thus, n-3 PUFAs may protect against allergic sensitisation and allergic manifestations. Epidemiological studies investigating the association between maternal fish intake during pregnancy and allergic outcomes in infants/children of those pregnancies suggest protective associations, but the findings are inconsistent. Fish oil provision to pregnant women is associated with immunologic changes in cord blood. Studies performed to date indicate that provision of fish oil during pregnancy may reduce sensitisation to common food allergens and reduce prevalence and severity of atopic eczema in the first year of life, with a possible persistence until adolescence. A recent study reported that fish oil consumption in pregnancy reduces persistent wheeze and asthma in the offspring at ages 3 to 5 years. Eating oily fish or fish oil supplementation in pregnancy may be a strategy to prevent infant and childhood allergic disease.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies strongly suggest that early life environmental exposures are important determinants of health and disease in later life [1,2]
Compared with wild-type mice, fat-1 mice that had been in lung tissue, and showed resistance of the airways to methacholine challenge [53]. These sensitized to ovalbumin had lower infiltration of leukocytes into the airways, lower concentrations observations suggest that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) might be protective towards allergic inflammation as a result of of a range of pro-allergic cytokines including and IL-13 have in lung lavagethe fluid, increased the synthesis and actions of resolvins
DHA provided through two servings of salmon per week was too low to influence the clinical outcomes despite the higher n-3 PUFA status in cord blood and the altered cord blood immune cell responses
Summary
Epidemiological studies strongly suggest that early life environmental exposures are important determinants of health and disease in later life [1,2]. Nutrition has been identified as one important exposure that influences early development and later outcomes [3,4]. The mechanisms that are proposed to underlie the causal link between early exposure to n-6 or n-3 PUFAs and altered risk of developing allergic diseases will be described, as will the literature relating early exposure to the different PUFAs to allergic diseases or to relevant immune outcomes. This is an update of an earlier discussion of this topic [11]
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