Egypt: A recent study has shown the relevance of omega-3 fatty acids as an adjuvant therapy in pediatric type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients with diabetic nephropathy in improving dyslipidemia, glycemic control, delayed disease progression and subclinical atherosclerosis. The findings from the randomized controlled trial were published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.
Several studies have assessed the omega-3 fatty acids' beneficial effects on autoimmune, inflammatory, and renal diseases. However, there is a lack of data on the effects of fatty acids on diabetic kidney disease in T1DM.

To address this knowledge gap, Nancy Samir Elbarbary, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, and colleagues aimed to the effect of oral omega-3 supplementation on lipid profile, glycemic control, kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), albuminuria level, and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in pediatric patients with T1DM and diabetic nephropathy.
The study included seventy children with type 1 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy with a mean age of 15.2 ± 1.96 years and a median disease duration of 7 years. They were randomly assigned into two groups, the intervention group which received daily capsules of 1 g oral omega-3 fatty acids capsules. The other group received a matching placebo and served as a control group. Both groups were followed for 6 months with an assessment of CIMT, KIM-1, urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR), fasting lipids, and fasting blood glucose (FBG).
The study led to the following findings:
· After 6 months, omega-3 fatty acids adjuvant therapy for the intervention group resulted in a significant decrease in FBG, HbA1c, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, UACR, KIM-1 and CIMT.
· HDL-cholesterol was significantly higher post-therapy compared with baseline levels and compared with the control group.
· Baseline KIM-1 levels were positively correlated to HbA1c, UACR and CIMT.
· Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids was safe and well-tolerated.
Omega-3 fatty acids improved glycemic control, decreased microalbuminuria and kidney injury molecule-1 levels, and after 6 months there was a reduction in carotid intima-media thickness with omega-3 fatty acids supplementation.
"Omega-3 fatty acids are safe effective adjuvant therapy for pediatric diabetic nephropathy," the researchers concluded.
Reference:
Elbarbary NS, Ismail EAR, Mohamed SA. Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation improves early-stage diabetic nephropathy and subclinical atherosclerosis in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial. Clin Nutr. 2023 Oct 13;42(12):2372-2380. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.10.007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37862823.