Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Parkinson's, Study Says

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1126110453.htm

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2007) — Omega-3 fatty acids protect the brain against Parkinson's disease, according to a study by Université Laval researchers. This study, supervised by Frederic Calon and Francesca Cicchetti, is the first to demonstrate the protective effect of a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids against Parkinson's.

Parkinson's disease is caused by the progressive death of the neurons responsible for producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter closely linked with movement control. The disease is usually diagnosed when 50 to 80% of these neurons are already dead, and there is currently no medication to stop that process.

The Université Laval research team's findings could help prevent the disease and, potentially, slow down its progression.

The researchers observed that when mice were fed an omega-3 rich diet, they seemed immune to the effect of MPTP, a toxic compound that causes the same damage to the brain as Parkinson's. "This compound, which has been used for more than 20 years in Parkinson's research, works faster than the disease itself and is just as effective in targeting and destroying the dopamine-producing neurons in the brain," points out Calon.

By contrast, another group of mice that were fed an ordinary diet developed the characteristic symptoms of the disease when injected with MPTP, including a 31% drop in dopamine-producing neurons and a 50% decrease in dopamine levels.

Analyses revealed that omega-3 fatty acids--in particular DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a specific type of omega-3--had replaced the omega-6 fatty acids already present in the brains of the mice that had been given omega-3 supplementation.

"This demonstrates both the importance of diet on the brain's fatty acid composition and the brain's natural inclination for omega-3 fatty acids," observes Calon. Since concentrations of other types of omega-3's had remained similar in both groups of mice, researchers suggest that the protective effect against Parkinson's comes essentially from DHA.

Another conclusion to be drawn from this finding is that a brain containing a lot of omega-6 fatty acids may be a fertile ground for Parkinson's disease. These fatty acids, abundant in foods rich in either vegetable oil or animal fat, are already under suspicion for their role in the body's inflammatory response, cardiac disease, arthritis, and Alzheimer's. In a balanced diet, the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids should be 4 to 1. However, the average Western diet contains 10 to 20 times more omega-6's than omega-3's.

"In North America, the average intake of DHA is between 60 to 80 mg a day, while experts recommend a daily minimum of 250 mg," explains Calon. "Our results suggest that this DHA deficiency is a risk factor for developing Parkinson's disease, and that we would benefit from evaluating omega-3's potential for preventing and treating this disease in humans," concludes the researcher.

This research was published in the online edition of the FASEB Journal, the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Print version of the article will be published in the April 2008.

In addition to Calon and Cicchetti, the study was co-authored by Mélanie Bousquet, Carl Julien, and Martine Saint-Pierre from Université Laval, and by Norman Salem Jr. from the National Institutes of Health.

Adapted from materials provided by Laval University.

Hi Carolyn,
Whenever anything is reported to improve our symptoms, look at their effect on the BBB. Again in this case Omega-3 (not omega -6) fatty acids maintain or reduce the BBB permeability.
See

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache...nk&cd=93&gl=uk
•Polyunsaturated fat. Hutter has proposed that an excess of the omega-6 arachidonic acid anddeficiency of omega-3 EPA and DHA leads to the overproduction of inflammatory leukotrienes which increase the permeability of the blood brain

Ron

What about the other Omega's do they have any value?

MIT: 'Cocktail' Of Compounds Improves Brain Function In Rodents -- Treatment Undergoing A Clinical Study In Alzheimer's Patients

27 Nov 2007
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/89868.php

MIT researchers have shown that a cocktail containing three compounds normally in the blood stream promotes growth of new brain connections and improves cognitive function in rodents. The treatment is now being tested in Alzheimer's patients and could hold promise for other brain diseases and injuries.

The mixture, which includes a type of omega-3 fatty acid, is part of a new approach to attacking Alzheimer's. That approach focuses on correcting the loss of synapses, or connections between neurons, which characterizes the disease.

For the past 30 years, researchers have tried targeting the clumps of misfolded proteins, known as amyloid beta plaques, found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. However, that approach has not yielded any effective treatments for the disease, which affects an estimated four million to five million Americans.

"It's been very frustrating," said Richard Wurtman, the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor of Neuropharmacology and senior author of a paper on the new work published in the November issue of Brain Research. "Nobody has demonstrated that if you prevent formation of the amyloid, people get better."

In December, a group of Alzheimer's researchers, including Wurtman, will participate in a symposium with the goal of developing a public policy to promote new approaches to Alzheimer's research. Organizers of the symposium believe that the current system of dementia research is "broken" and needs to be fixed.

Alzheimer's researchers agree that the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer's patients is caused by loss of brain synapses. Wurtman and others theorize that restoring some of those synapses could provide an effective treatment, analogous to giving L-dopa to Parkinson's patients. Such treatments don't cure the disease but can restore significant brain function, said Wurtman.

Synapses, where information is passed between neurons, play a critical role in learning and memory. Messages travel from a presynaptic neuron to a postsynaptic cell.

In the Brain Research paper, the MIT team reported that rodents given a cocktail of DHA (a type of omega-3 fatty acid), uridine and choline showed a greatly increased concentration of dendritic spines, which receive messages in the postsynaptic neuron. That indicates that synapse regeneration has occurred, which is unusual, Wurtman said.

Synapse regrowth could also prove an effective treatment for other brain diseases, such as Parkinson's, or for brain injuries, he said.

The researchers found that rodents who received the treatment performed much better on tests of cognitive ability (specifically, navigating a water maze). Sarah Holguin, an MIT graduate student in brain and cognitive sciences, presented those results at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting earlier this month.

Some of the rats in the studies received all three compounds and some received only one. The improvements in synapse growth and cognitive ability were greatest in the rats given all three.

Omega-3 fatty acids are not produced in the body but are found in a variety of sources, including fish, eggs, flaxseed and meat from grass-fed animals. Choline can be synthesized in the body and obtained through the diet; it is found in meats, nuts and eggs. Uridine cannot be obtained from food sources, but is a component of human breast milk and can be produced in the body.

The cocktail of compounds is now in clinical studies in Europe.

Other authors of the Brain Research paper were Toshimasa Sakamoto, the first author and a research affiliate in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), and Mehmet Cansev, a BCS postdoctoral associate.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Brain Sciences and Metabolism Charitable Trust.

Eat fish to ward off Parkinson's: study
Two servings a week beneficial. Quebec research finds omega-3 link

AARON DERFEL
The Gazette
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazett...641f32&k=19940
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Eating two servings of fish a week could protect you from developing Parkinson's disease, a Quebec City researcher suggested yesterday.

A Université Laval study showed that laboratory mice fed a diet rich in a specific type of omega-3 fatty acid found in fish did not develop Parkinson's, even when they were given a toxic compound that usually causes symptoms similar to the disease.

The mice were fed very high doses of the omega-3 acid known as DHA, which is not the same as the omega-3s contained in some vegetable oils. What's more, the researchers were unable to say how much DHA humans would have to consume to achieve the same protection against Parkinson's.

Two servings of fish a week would probably help, said Frédéric Calon, a co-author of the study.

"What we expect is that (DHA) can have a similar effect in humans and, hopefully, could prevent the disease or slow its development at the beginning," Calon added.

More than 100,000 Canadians suffer from Parkinson's, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that causes chronic trembling of the hands, arms, legs, jaw and face, as well as stiffness of the limbs. The disease affects mostly people in their 60s or 70s, but in rare cases some people in their 30s and 40s have what is called young onset Parkinson's.