Does Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Have Beneficial Effects on Plasma Homocysteine, Insulin Resistance and Lipid Profile of Type 2Diabetic Patients A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: This study was conducted to determine the effects of n-3 PUFAssupplementation on plasma homocysteine (Hcy) level, lipid profile and insulinresistance in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: This study is adouble-blind controlled trial involving 70 patients with T2D selected from YazdDiabetes Research Center in 2013. Patients were randomly assigned to receiveeither 2 g/day omega-3 soft gels (OG) or 2 g/day placebo (PG) for 6 weeks. Atthe beginning and end of the study, Hcy concentration, fasting plasma glucose(FBG), fasting plasma insulin, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-c), HDL-c/LDL-c ratio, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), insulin sensitivity(IS) and beta-cell function were measured and compared. Results: Sixty fiveparticipants completed the study. The results of this study showed thatomega-3 fatty acid supplementation caused significant increase in Hcy(P = 0.007) and LDLc (P = 0.02), while HDLc and HDLc/LDLc ratio weresignificantly decreased (P = 0.001 and 0.006, respectively). In both groups,insulin and HOMA-IR were increased, while IS decreased significantly. Βetacellfunction was increased only in OG (P = 0.005). There was no significantdifference in mean change of any factors. Conclusion: The present study foundno beneficial effects of 2 g/day omega-3 supplement for 6 weeks on biomarkersof Hcy, FBG, insulin and lipid profile in th T2D patients.

Keywords:

Type 2 diabetes , Homocysteine , Omega-3 , Lipid profiles , HOMA-IR