Omega 3 Fatty Acids Improve the Immune Functioning in Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton

An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc. and tumor cells, including irregular cells growth, cancer cells to keep us healthy.

In most cases, the immune system does a great job of keeping people healthy and preventing infections. But sometimes problems with the immune system can lead to illness and infection.

Although the immune system has done a great job in protecting us against foreign invasion, unfortunately, during the process od their functions, they may induce the production of free radicals and chain of free radicals that can be harmful to our body.

Immunomodulatory activity is an action that improves the underactive immune function susceptible to the invasion of the foreign microorganism and inhibits the overactive immune system that causes autoimmune diseases.

In other words, depending on the substances that affect the immunomodulatory process, some may improve the immune function by modulating the genes involved immune responses and protect the immune system against toxins or immunotoxic effects such as abnormal allergic reactions, other such as heavy metals can induce opposite effects.

In normal immunity, active immunity may also be artificially acquired active immunity caused by the injection of the vaccine, a substance that contains antigen and passive immunity is an auto-response of the immune system against infection through the production of antigen.

Omega-3 fatty acids are phytochemicals in the class of lipids, found abundantly in deepsea fisk, dark-green leafy vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, etc.

The three main components of Omega-3 fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

On finding a potential phytochemical for the improvement of the immune functioning, researchers examined the long-chain n-3 PUFAs (LCPUFAs) anti-atopic disease risk in infants.

The study included pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats randomly assigned to consume either SDA (3 g SDA/100 g fat) or a control (no SDA) diet, 5 d before parturition and through lactation (21 d).

Additionally, for oral tolerance (OT) treatment, 10-d-old pups were fed ovalbumin (Ova; 200 μL of 8 mg/mL) or placebo daily for 5 d. At 21 d,

According to the experimental results of pups (both sexes) that were weaned to their respective maternal diet until 6 wk of age and killed, the SDA-enriched maternal diet showed a higher levels of plasma phospholipid (PL) EPA (15 times higher), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; 3 times higher), and DHA (1.3 times higher) content in 3-wk-old pups, accompanied by higher B-cell function [plasma ovalbumin-specific IgG1, compared with the control diet.

Furthermore, compared with pups fed a control diet, the splenocytes from pups fed with the SDA diet had more (23%) helper T (Th) cells (CD3+CD4+) and activated (12%) Th cells (CD4+CD28+) (P < 0.02) than controls.

Moreover, at 6 wk, the SDA group stimulated ex vivo with LPS, also had 30% more CD4+CD25+ splenocytes and produced less inflammatory IL-6 (50%) and TNF-α (30%) and more immunoregulatory IL-10 (45%) cytokines, compared to the control group.

However, the splenocytes and plasma PLs from the 6-wk-old SDA group had more EPA (2x) and DPA (3.5x) (P < 0.05), but not DHA, compared to the control group.

Additionally, the Ova-exposed group also had less (30%) plasma Ova-IgG1 than the placebo group.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "Feeding SDA during lactation and weaning altered immune responses in directions believed to be beneficial".

Taken altogether, Omega-3 fatty acids may be considered a functional food for the improvement of the immune response, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters 
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally 

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You. How-To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca


Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Feeding a Bioactive Oil Enriched in Stearidonic Acid during Early Life Influences Immune System Maturation in Neonatal Sprague-Dawley Rats by Patel D1, Goruk S1, Newell M1, Chen G1, Richard C1, Field CJ. (PubMed)