Critical Care Journal reported the findings of a study conducted by researchers based at University of Southampton in England. Researchers found improvements in patients with sepsis, a serious infection of the blood, in patients who received omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oils.
Sepsis occurs in response to an overwhelming inflammatory response to infections, and can cause a state of hyperinflammation, which is not beneficial and is linked with a higher death.
Dr. Philip Calder and associates randomly placed ’s team randomized 23 patients hospitalized with sepsis in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Hospital Padre Américo in Portugal to receive a parenteral lipid emulsion with or without fish oil for up to six days. Those who received the fish oil, had significantly reduced levels of measurable inflammation, their lung function improved and were discharged earlier from the hospital.
“Recently there has been increased interest in the fat and oil component of vein-delivered nutrition, with the realization that it not only supplies energy and essential building blocks, but may also provide bioactive fatty acids,” Dr Calder commented. “Traditional solutions use soybean oil, which does not contain the omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish oil that act to reduce inflammatory responses.”
“This is the first study of this particular fish oil solution in septic patients in the ICU,” he announced. “The positive results are important since they indicate that the use of such an emulsion in this group of patients will improve clinical outcomes, in comparison with the standard mix.”