A new study raises questions about the effect of some components of fish oil supplements on the brain, after researchers found that eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) may hinder brain repair processes after head injuries.
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The study, conducted on mice with minor head injuries, showed that animals fed a diet containing EPA (an omega-3 fatty acid) scored lower on spatial memory and post-injury learning tests compared to mice on a control diet. Researchers suggest that EPA may impair the brain's ability to repair blood vessels by altering how cells use energy, potentially diverting some of their resources away from repair processes.
However, the same effect was not observed with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), another type of omega-3 fatty acid known for its role in building and maintaining brain cells. In subsequent experiments using human cells taken from the brain's microvascular system, DHA did not impede repair processes as EPA did.
Neurologist Onder Alperm of the Medical University of South Carolina said that fish oil supplements "are everywhere, and people are taking them for multiple reasons, often without a clear understanding of their long-term effects."
The researchers also found that EPA, but not DHA, accumulated in the brains of mice that took the supplements, and that the effect of EPA in blood vessels was linked to the accumulation of tau proteins, proteins associated with brain cell damage and some neurodegenerative diseases.
To check the relevance of these findings to humans, the researchers analyzed samples of brain tissue from people who had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition associated with repeated head injuries, and found that the tissues showed some of the metabolic disturbances and vascular changes observed in mouse experiments.
However, the researchers emphasize that these results do not mean that fish oil supplements cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy in humans, as most of the evidence in the study is derived from animal and cell experiments, and clinical studies are still needed to determine whether the same effects occur in humans.
"The idea that fish oil offers universal, one-size-fits-all benefits doesn't hold up when you start to study complex biological interactions," said neuroscientist Onur Eskiokak of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, adding, "But that doesn't mean it's bad for your health."
The researchers intend to continue studying the effects of EPA and DHA on different types of brain cells and multiple brain regions, in preparation for conducting clinical studies at later stages.
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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