A new study by the Université de Moncton, Canada, has shown that the British-grown ahiflower oil (Buglossoides arvensis) has similar efficacy as fish oils when it comes to reducing symptoms of arthritis – such as joint pain, swelling – and inflammatory markers.

The aim of the trial was to see how polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplements affected the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis in animals and also determine the impacts of PUFA-enriched diets.

Researchers gave groups of mice with induced rheumatoid arthritis either a standard Western diet or one supplemented with ahiflower oil or fish oil and then observed the effects on inflammatory markers, platelets, platelet microvesicles, ankle thickness and cytokine release.

The diets with supplemental PUFAs didn’t prevent arthritis, but ankle swelling was significantly reduced across both the fish oil and ahiflower oil groups, demonstrating, the researchers report, that ahiflower oil had a similar beneficial impact to fish oil.

“LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF DIETARY AHIFLOWER OIL MAY HAVE A SIMILAR ANTI-INFLAMMATORY POTENTIAL TO THAT OF DIETARY FISH OIL”

“Our study provides insight into the contribution of PUFA supplementation in modulating the pro-inflammatory phenotype of platelets in RA pathology,” explains Angela M Laevski, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton. “As well as this, it suggests that low concentrations of dietary ahiflower oil may have a similar anti-inflammatory potential to that of dietary fish oil.”