Fish oils could help treat rare disease in infants, a recent study shows.
Congenital hyperinsulinism, a disease that leaves a newborn's brain starving for blood sugar and eventually leads to damage or long-term disability, can be treated with fish oils.
Researchers at the University of Manchester, UK, said that the disease is extremely rare and affects just 1 in 50,000 children in the country. It produces lot of insulin in a child's body that leads to constant low blood sugar occasions.
According to the researchers, regularly giving children standard medical treatment and purified fish oils that are similar to those that treat some heart attacks, effectively improves blood sugar levels in them.
"Although we didn't see enormous changes in our patients during the research, the effects were small but positive. It is important for all babies with congenital hyperinsulinism because it is a condition which is so difficult to treat," lead researcher Dr Karen Cosgrove, from the University of Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences, said in a press release.
The researchers said that the finding is important as it makes way for more research as to how newer treatments can help stabilize blood sugar levels in babies with congenital hyperinsulinism.
"The current medical treatment for children with congenital hyperinsulinism has been quite limited. The addition of this fish oil supplement may be a simple but effective way of treating low blood sugars in many children with this difficult condition," Dr Indi Banerjee, consultant in pediatric endocrinology at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and clinical lead for NORCHI, said.
The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology.
