Associations among Dietary Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, the Gut Microbiota, and Intestinal Immunity

Abstract

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs), which are essential fatty acids that humans should obtain from diet, have potential benefits for human health. In addition to altering the structure and function of cell membranes, omega-3 PUFAs (docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA)) exert different effects on intestinal immune tolerance and gut microbiota maintenance. Firstly, we review the effect of omega-3 PUFAs on gut microbiota. And the effects of omega-3 PUFAs on intestinal immunity and inflammation were described. Furthermore, the important roles of omega-3 PUFAs in maintaining the balance between gut immunity and the gut microbiota were discussed. Additional factors, such as obesity and diseases (NAFLD, gastrointestinal malignancies or cancer, bacterial and viral infections), which are associated with variability in omega-3 PUFA metabolism, can influence omega-3 PUFAs–microbiome–immune system interactions in the intestinal tract and also play roles in regulating gut immunity. This review identifies several pathways by which the microbiota modulates the gut immune system through omega-3 PUFAs. Omega-3 supplementation can be targeted to specific pathways to prevent and alleviate intestinal diseases, which may help researchers identify innovative diagnostic methods.

Dietary Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid Ethyl Esters Influence the Gut Microbiota and Bacterial Metabolites in Rats

“…The n-3PUFA are thought to affect the gut microbiota mainly through regulation of the type and amount of bacteria in the gut, changes in the levels of inflammatory mediators such as endotoxin and interleukin, and regulation of SCFA concentrations 33 . In this study, compared with the SOY group, the EPA and DHA groups had significantly lower the Chao-1 and Observed_species indices, which are used to estimate species richness abundance-based estimator of species richness at the genus level Figs.…”

Characterization of gut microbiome and metabolome in Helicobacter pylori patients in an underprivileged community in the United States

“…As these two biosynthetic pathways share enzymes for their respective dehydration and elongation steps, they are antagonistic to each other. In general, a high 18:3n3 (n-3 fatty acid) diet is correlated with positive physiological effects whereas a high 18:2n6 (n-6 fatty acid) diet is correlated with metabolic dysbiosis and negative physiological effects [74, 75] . Accordingly a balanced dietary intake of n-6/n-3 fatty acids is recommended to be 1:1-2:1, although the average ratio in a typical Western diet has been reported to be >15:1 [76] .…”

Health benefits of docosahexaenoic acid and its bioavailability: A review

“…A randomized, open-label, cross-over trial providing 4 g/day of the combination of DHA and EPA (or 2 g DHA) in TG or EE form to healthy volunteers for 8 weeks reported that both DHA forms significantly increased the abundance of several beneficial genera (Watson et al, 2018), such as Bifidobacterium, Roseburia, and Lactobacillus, which are the main producers of butyrate in the gut. Butyrate is regarded as an important nutrient for the colonic mucosa, which in turn modulates gene expression, inflammation, differentiation, and apoptosis in host cells (Fu et al, 2021). Younge et al (2017) observed that there were an increase in bacterial diversity and a decrease in the abundance of Streptococcus, Clostridium, and many pathogenic genera within Unless it is specified, the recommendation is for DHA alone.…”