Grandma was right - cod liver oil is good for you!
Scientists at Cardiff University have identified exactly why cod liver oil is effective in easing the pain and inflammation associated with arthritis.
In inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, the presence of unusual fatty acids, Omega or n-3 fatty acids, (that are uniquely present in fish oils but not other oils common in the diet) in the cartilage cells reduces the activity of specific enzymes that are responsible for cartilage damage.
The Cardiff University scientists have confirmed that these unusual fatty acids are incorporated into the lipid membranes and vesicles of cartilage cells. Their findings were published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, on January 141.
These unusual fatty acids also cause the 'switching off' of another recently-discovered enzyme (cyclooxygenase-2) that causes much of the pain and inflammation in arthritis.
"This is a particularly interesting finding because there is intense activity in the pharmaceutical industry to find specific drug inhibitors of Cyclooxygenase-2," said Professor Bruce Caterson, who is leading the research, funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign.
"Dietary Fish Oil supplements may be achieving the desired inhibition already and our findings may help define new targets and strategies for drug development in these areas.
"These findings provide some very interesting explanations as to why Granny's Cod Liver Oil therapies have some benefits to arthritis sufferers," said Professor Caterson. "The good thing about modern day dietary supplements is that Fish Oil is available in capsules, thus preventing the most obvious deterrent to this treatment - the smell that precedes the terrible taste!"
The research was performed by PhD student, Clare Curtis who is jointly supervised by Professors Caterson and John Harwood at the University's School of Biosciences. Important collaborators and co-advisors in this work were Clare Hughes and Carl Flannery, both of whom are ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellows, and Chris Little, who is also funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign.
The ARC currently pumps in £1.3m into research at the Connective Tissue Biology Laboratories at the Cardiff School of Biosciences at Cardiff University - approximately 40 per cent of the labs' extramural grant support. Researchers funded by the ARC are Professor Bruce Caterson, Professor Charlie Archer; Dr Vic Duance, Dr Alvin Kwan, Dr Carl Flannery and Dr Clare Hughes.
- Curtis CL, Hughes CE, Flannery CR, Little CB, Harwood JL, Caterson B. n-3 fatty acids specifically modulate catabolic factors involved in articular cartilage degradation. J Biol Chem 2000 Jan 14;275(2):721-4
