Epileptic Seizures: Fish Oil Reduces Seizure Frequency
Epileptic seizures: omega-3 reduces their frequency
The intake of small amounts of fish oil rich in Omega-3 EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) by epileptic patients helps to reduce seizures by one third and lowers blood pressure.
This is reported by a study published in recent months in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, conducted by researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles (USA).
Seizures and epilepsy
Epilepsy is a condition characterized by a sudden discharge of electrical signals between neurons. Seizures are a typical, but not exclusive, symptom of epilepsy as they can be caused by other diseases or conditions. Seizures are violent and involuntary contractions affecting some voluntary skeletal muscles. People with epilepsy also have a significantly higher risk of heart attack compared to healthy individuals.
Small amounts of EPA and DHA reduce seizure frequency
The study involved 24 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who received three treatments of ten weeks each, separated by two six-week periods. One treatment consisted of six capsules per day of fish oil, equivalent to 2160 mg of EPA + DHA. The low-dose omega-3 treatment consisted of three capsules daily containing 1080 mg of EPA + DHA and three corn oil capsules. The placebo treatment was three corn oil capsules administered twice daily.
During the low-dose treatment, the average seizure frequency was 12 per month. For the high-dose treatment it was 17, while the placebo group had an average of 18 seizures per month. Thus, the action of low-dose fish oil omega-3 was associated with a 33.6% reduction in seizure frequency compared to placebo.
Two participants who took the lower amounts of fish oil experienced no seizures during the ten weeks, whereas none of the subjects treated with high doses of omega-3 or placebo were seizure-free. Researchers also observed that the low dose of omega-3 was associated with a blood pressure decrease of 1.95 mmHg during the ten weeks of treatment. The higher omega-3 dose was associated with an average increase of 1.84 mmHg.
No dosage impacted heart rate, blood fat concentrations, or severity levels of epileptic seizures.
Omega-3 reduce neuronal excitability
The study results show that small amounts of fish oil are effective in reducing seizures, probably due to omega-3’s ability to reach the central nervous system and regulate the excitability of brain cells. The degree of improvement is similar to that reported by recent studies on drugs used for drug-resistant epilepsy. Fish oil could therefore represent a low-cost intervention to reduce seizures and improve cardiovascular health in people with epilepsy.
Source: C. M. DeGiorgio, P. R. Miller, R. Harper, J. Gornbein, L. Schrader, J. Soss, S. Meymandi. Fish oil (n-3 fatty acids) in drug resistant epilepsy: a randomised placebo-controlled crossover study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Published online ahead of print, doi:10.1136/jnnp-2014-307749
