Eat your fish: Omega-3s improve osteoarthritis in guinea pigs

What if reducing your risk of osteoarthritis was as simple as changing your diet? According to new research from the journal Osteoarthritis & Cartilage, it might just be that easy.

Knott and colleagues studied the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on the progression of osteoarthritis in a naturally-occurring OA model, the Dunkin-Hartley (DH) guinea pig. These animals are genetically predisposed to develop OA as they age, so starting at age 10 weeks the guinea pigs were given a diet that either contained average American-diet levels of omega-3 fatty acids or had a high-omega-3 diet (fish oil supplement). A non-OA-prone guinea pig strain was used as the control group in order to rule out any general physiological changes in the guinea pigs due to this diet.

By adding high levels of omega-3s to the guinea pigs’ diet, the researchers were able to reduce the visual signs of OA by 50% (histological scores). They saw statistically significant reductions in the destruction of cartilage as determined by semi-quantitative scoring (OARSI standards), toluidine blue staining for a critical component of healthy cartilage, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and overall cartilage structure.

This diet change did not completely eliminate all risk factors. Collagen II, an important component of cartilage, still had significant mineralizing-prone modifications in the DH guinea pigs, while the non-arthritic guinea pigs showed only low levels of this collagen modification. However, out of 20 risk factors examined in the omega-3 diet DH pigs, 16 showed either significant differences or positive trends toward the levels seen in the arthritic-resistant pigs. Only two factors showed no significant changes, and the remaining two had non-significant trends in the opposite direction.

These results suggest that people with inherited risk of OA may be able to mitigate the onset and severity of the disease by changing what they eat. This diet-based approach to treating arthritis may be a significant tool in a holistic approach to this chronic disease.

Article citation:
Knott, L. et al. “Regulation of OA by omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in a naturally occurring model of disease”. Osteoarthritis & Cartilage, In Press 2011.