title: Fish oil reduces tooth loss mainly through its anti-inflammatory effects?
abstract: Competing at several steps of arachidonic acid metabolism, n-3 fatty acids reduce production of highly active prostaglandins and leukotrienes and exert anti-inflammatory effects. They are also experimentally shown to be anti-osteoporotic. Periodontitis is responsible for most tooth loss in adult populations. If enough n-3 fatty acids are provided, periodontitis with alveolar bone resorption may be controlled, and tooth loss may be prevented. In fact, n-3 fatty acid administration lowered prostaglandin E(2) production, tooth movement and alveolar bone resorption in animal experiments. Aggression, which may be related with tooth loss, was also controlled with fish oil. Our cross-sectional data supported our hypothesis. We recruited 256 men (22-59 y of age) and 95 women (22-66 y), counted the numbers of their remaining teeth, and analyzed the fatty acid composition of the total phospholipid fraction of RBCs. The beta-coefficient of the numbers of remaining teeth and EPA concentrations in the fraction was 0.89 (per 1% EPA, p=0.007) after adjustment for 9 possible confounding factors. Long-term intervention studies with fish oil planned in the future should be able to test our hypothesis by just adding another very simple endpoint in those studies: tooth loss during the intervention period. This hypothesis may explain the linkage between periodontitis/tooth loss and coronary heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Application, Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama City, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamazaki
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itomura
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sawazaki
authors.forename: Tomohito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamazaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000097:blood; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000097:blood; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005395:Fish Oils / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D005395:Fish Oils; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid