Flaxseed oil, a fish oil challenger?

Jean-Marc Maurette

doi:10.1051/ocl.2008.0211

Abstract

The too low level of omega-3 intake in the modern diet is a fact which is worrying health professional and authorities. Among the “traditional” recommendation for a safe and equilibrated diet, recommending food containing omega-3, is there, out of the inescapable fish oil leading to some digestive discomforts, any alternative? Two human clinical trials conducted to verify the effective efficiency of this re equilibrated diet on various skin parameters (hydration, surface evaluation, inflammation) are reviewed here. The results of the clinical trials on various skin parameters (hydration, trans epidermal water loss, roughness, scaling, superficial inflammation and blood flow) were quite convincing about the interest of such a supplementation.

Highlights

Fatty acids (FA), in general, are long chain molecules
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from the omega-6 series is starting with the linoleic acid (LA) (C18:2 n-6), an essential FA coming from the diet, metabolized through desaturation and elongations by other PUFAs, such as C18:3 n-6: c-linolenic acid (GLA) and C20:4 n-6, arachidonic acid (AA)
For the pre-post differences the two treatment groups were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test Within the two treatment groups each combination of two time points was compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. In summary this orientation study clearly demonstrates the effect of the supplementation by a-Linolenic acid (ALA) (1.15 g/day on the average) on skin parameters and inflammation induced by the nicotinate test as shown in table 1

Summary

Introduction

Fatty acids (FA), in general, are long chain molecules. If they have more than a single bound they are called polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Omega-3 have numerous known impacts in human health conditions, in various fields, such as: – diabetes and obesity [1,2,3]; – cardiovascular diseases [4,5,6]; – inflammation [7,8,9,10]; – vision [11] Among this wide range of activities, omega-3 has a great impact on skin physiology. Basic skin functions such as the barrier function, temperature regulation, photo protection, water homeostasis are impacted by supplementary or dietary intervention [12, 13]. Epidermal lipids are known to play a crucial role in the mediation of desquamation and the deficiency of essential fatty acids seems to be involved in cutaneous scaling disorders (xerosis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) [15]

Methods

Results

Conclusion