A recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association has suggested that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids may lessen the risk of type-1 diabetes in children on higher risk of developing the disease.

The investigation is still preliminary but it may provide hopeful feeling to those who have been told they are at a high genetic risk of getting insulin-dependent diabetes.

The investigators, chaired by Jill Norris of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, viewed how diet have an effect upon pancreatic islet autoimmunity, a form in which the human body produces antibodies against the cells present in the pancreas that make insulin. Islet autoimmunity is related to the growth of diabetes.

The study comprised 1,770 children who were at greater risk for developing type 1 diabetes as they had a sibling or close relative with the same situation or they passed genes, which put them at higher risk of getting diabetes.

The scientists required to identify if children who fed a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids from the time they were one year of age would later develop islet autoimmunity. The parents of the children were asked to provide report on their children’s omega-3 consumption at 3, 5, 7 and 9 years of age.

They discovered that those who ate a diet high in omega-3s lessened their possibility of getting islet autoimmunity by 55%.

Type 1 diabetes, is generally treated in childhood and is a permanent condition, which needs daily insulin injections, since patients' pancreases can produce little or no insulin. Researchers think that both genetic conditions and environmental components comprising diet play a vital role in the autoimmune process, which causes diabetes.

The research suggests that inflammation is involved in the development of type 1 diabetes. Since omega-3 fats have strong anti-inflammatory properties, it's thought they might help reduce the risk of the disorder.

Pediatric endocrinologist Diane Wherrett explained, “The thought is that the omega-3s reduce the amount of inflammatory cells -- chemicals called cytokines -- that destroy immune cells. If there are fewer of those destructive cytokines around, hopefully there's less damage going on inside the cells that make insulin.”

Jill Norris, study author sais, “The study is exciting because in the long run, with more research, it suggests we might be able to prevent diabetes with a nutritional intervention.”

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