A new study shows that low doses of fish oil might be effective for epileptic patients.
The research was conducted on 24 people who had epilepsy. The participants were not responding to current drug treatments. The participants were given three different treatments, each lasting for 10-week with a six-week interval in between.
In the first treatment plan, the participants were told to take three fish oil pills, which had 1080 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids, and three corn oil capsules, per day. The second plan involved taking six capsules of fish oil, which was equivalent to 2160 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, each day. Researchers considered this dosage high. The final treatment had only three corn oil capsules, which acted as a placebo, taken two times a day.
The study revealed that people who had low doses of fish oil had an average of 12 seizures every month. Those who had high-dose of fish oil treatment experienced an average of 17 seizures per month while those in the control group suffered from an average of 18 seizures per month. Two people in the low-dose group were seizure-free during the 10 weeks of treatment. This was not seen in any other group.
Researchers explained that the low-dose fish oil helped reduce blood pressure whereas high-dose fish oil increased blood pressure. Overall, fish oil did not change the heart rate, blood fat levels or the severity of the seizures.
"Low dose fish oil is a safe and low cost intervention that may reduce seizures and improve cardiovascular health in people with epilepsy," the authors wrote in the press release.
Researchers also said that further studies were required to understand the association between fish oil and reduced epileptic seizures.
The study, "Fish oil may help to reduce seizure frequency in drug resistant epilepsy," was published in the British Medical Journal.
