The effect of Omega-3 fatty acids on serum paraoxonase activity, vitamins A, E, and C in type 2 diabetic patients

Background: diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia. studies showed paraoxonase activity, and vitamin c and a levels are decreased in diabetes. the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on serum paraoxonase activity and vitamins a, e, c in patients with type 2 diabetes is not fully understood. this study aimed to determine the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on paraoxonase activity, vitamins c, a and e levels in type 2 diabetic patients. methods: in a double-blind, placebo controlled trial, 80 type 2 diabetic patients were randomly enrolled into the study. study subjects received daily 2714 mg of omega-3 fatty acids or placebo for 8 weeks. ten milliliter fasting blood was collected before and after treatments. serum paraoxonase activity and vitamin c levels were measured by spectrophotometry. vitamin a and vitamin e were measured using high performance liquid chromatography. nutrient intake was estimated using 24-hours dietary recall questionnaire (for 2 days) before and after treatments. dietary data were analyzed using fpii. to compare the means of variables between the two groups, independent t-test was employed. differences between variables before and after interventions were calculated using paired t-test. results: serum levels of paraoxonase activity were significantly increased after omega-3 intake (126.47 iu/ml vs. 180.13 iu/ml). however, omega-3 intake caused no significant change in serum vitamin a, c, and e. conclusions: supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids was found to increase paraoxonase activity in diabetic patients.