A modest dose of one gram of fish oil per day lowers cortisol levels, write Italian researchers in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. The participants in the study were alcohol addicts who were doing a detox, but the cortisol lowering effect of fish oil is no different in healthy people.
Alcohol, cortisol & stress
If alcohol addicts stop drinking their cortisol level rises. [Am J Psychiatry. 1991 Aug;148(8):1023-5.] The effect is temporary, but the accompany feelings of stress and anxiety play a role in the failure of many attempts to stop drinking.
Because there are indications that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil reduce cortisol levels [J Complement Integr Med. 2012 Oct 23;9.] [Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2011 Mar-Apr;84(3-4):71-8.] [Psychiatry Res. 2010 Jun 30;178(1):112-5.], researchers at the Universita Politecnica delle Marche wondered whether fish oil supplementation would lower cortisol secretions in this group.
Study
The Italians did an experiment with 31 alcoholics who were trying to detox under guidance. Ten of them were given a placebo every day for 21 days; the remaining 21 subjects were given a capsule containing 1000 mg fish oil.
Each capsule contained 252 mg DHA and 60 mg EPA. The researchers used supplements made by the Italian company Salix. [salix.it]
Results
Just before administration of the fish oil or placebo capsules started [t0], the researchers monitored the subjects’ cortisol concentrations in their saliva for twenty-four hours. They did the same on the last day of administration [t21].
The first figure below shows that the omega-3 fatty acids lowered the subjects’ cortisol concentrations. The second figure shows that the placebo capsules had no effect.
Fish oil supplementation also reduced the feelings of stress that the subjects reported. The researchers used the Perceived Stress Scale [PSS10], where the maximum score is 40 and the lowest 0.
Conclusion
“Present results show that supplementing male abstinent alcoholics with omega-3 fatty acids: (1) decreases stress and anxiety symptoms and (2) reduces basal cortisol secretion levels”, the researchers summarised. “The application to a relatively unselected cohort of abstinent alcoholics, together with the broad availability of omega-3 supplements, makes these results quite generalizable, and the present experience replicable in most realities.”
“Collectively, these findings suggest that an elevated dietary omega-3 fatty acids intake may represent a subsidiary measure to increase the efficacy of rehabilitation programmes in alcohol dependent persons and provide a valid support during withdrawal from alcohol.”
The In Vivo Antidiabetic Activity of Nigella sativa Is Mediated through Activation of the AMPK Pathway and Increased Muscle Glut4 Content
Abstract
The antidiabetic effect of N. sativa seed ethanol extract (NSE) was assessed in Meriones shawi after development of diabetes. Meriones shawi were divided randomly into four groups: normal control, diabetic control, diabetic treated with NSE (2?g?eq?plant/kg) or with metformin (300?mg/kg) positive control, both administered by daily intragastric gavage for 4 weeks. Glycaemia and body weight were evaluated weekly. At study’s end, an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) was performed to estimate insulin sensitivity. Upon sacrifice, plasma lipid profile, insulin, leptin, and adiponectin levels were assessed. ACC phosphorylation and Glut4 protein content were determined in liver and skeletal muscle. NSE animals showed a progressive normalization of glycaemia, albeit slower than that of metformin controls. Moreover, NSE increased insulinemia and HDL-cholesterol, compared to diabetic controls. Leptin and adiponectin were unchanged. NSE treatment decreased OGTT and tended to decrease liver and muscle triglyceride content. NSE stimulated muscle and liver ACC phosphorylation and increased muscle Glut4. These results confirm NSE’s previously reported hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic activity. More significantly, our data demonstrate that in vivo treatment with NSE exerts an insulin-sensitizing action by enhancing ACC phosphorylation, a major component of the insulin-independent AMPK signaling pathway, and by enhancing muscle Glut4 expression.
