The results of studies done at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland showed that omega 3 fish oil supplements significantly reduce the symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
In this study, a double-blind, double placebo-controlled trial was performed on 52 patients with lupus. The aim of the study was to test the effects of omega 3 fish oil supplements and also of supplements containing copper on SLE activity.
In many cases, patients with lupus have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Now, it was already known that omega 3 fatty acids act as anti-inflammatory agents and the researches on the study considered the possibility that omega 3's also show antiautoimmune properties, which would make omega 3 a possible candidate for SLE treatment.
The effects of supplementation with either or both of the components mentioned above was tested. So, the following 4 treatments were tested on 4 different groups of individuals:
* Omega 3 fish oil and copper
* Omega 3 fish oil and placebo copper
* Copper and placebo fish oil
* Placebo copper and placebo fish oil.
The whole study lasted 24 weeks and disease activity was measured using the revised Systemic Lupus Activity Measure (SLAM-R).
The final result confirmed a significant decrease in SLAM-R scores on the patient group that was taking fish oil (with or without copper). The score decreased from an initial value of 6.12 to 4.69 after the 24 week period.
On the other hand, copper supplements did not show significant SLAM-R changes when compared with placebo and did not add considerable efficacy when combined with fish oil.
