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A typical Western high-fat diet may increase the risk of common painful conditions in people with conditions such as diabetes or obesity, according to a groundbreaking article written by a team led by the Center for Health Sciences of the United States. University of Texas at San Antonio, also mentioned. as UT Health San Antonio.
Plus, diet changes can dramatically reduce or even reverse pain caused by inflammatory pain – such as arthritis, trauma, or surgery – or neuropathic pain, such as diabetes. The new finding could help treat patients with chronic pain by simply changing the diet or developing drugs that block the release of certain fatty acids in the body.
The article, which ran for more than five years, was published in the June edition of the journal Natural metabolism by a collaborative team of 15 local researchers, led by early co-authors Jacob T. Boyd, MD, PhD, and Peter M. LoCoco, PhD, of the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio.
A total of 11 of the co-authors are from UT Health San Antonio, including seven current or former students of its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; three represent the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at San Antonio; and one is from the Department of Neurology of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
“This study best exemplifies team science – several scientists and clinicians with complementary expertise working together to improve lives,” said Kenneth M. Hargreaves, DDS, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio, and lead author of the article.
Fatty acids and pain
Chronic pain is a major cause of disability around the world. But while fat reduction is often advised for managing diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular disease, the role of dietary lipids, or fatty acids, in painful conditions is relatively unknown.
In the new article, Dr. Boyd and his colleagues used several methods in mice and humans to study the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in painful conditions. They found that typical Western diets high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids were a significant risk factor for inflammatory and neuropathic pain.
Omega-6 fatty acids, mainly found in foods containing vegetable oils, have their benefits. But Western diets associated with obesity are characterized by much higher levels of these acids in foods, from corn chips to onion rings, than the good omega-3 fats, which are found in fish. and in sources like flax seeds and walnuts.
Typically, unhealthy foods high in omega-6 fatty acids include processed snacks, fast foods, cakes, and fatty and salty meats, among others.
Reversing this diet, including lowering omega-6s and increasing omega-3 lipids, significantly reduced these painful conditions, the researchers found. In addition, the authors demonstrated that skin levels of omega-6 lipids in patients with type 2 diabetic neuropathic pain were strongly associated with reported pain levels and the need for analgesic medication.
“This article is a high level contribution to a huge unmet need for translation because there is no treatment modifying the nature of this neurological disease,” said José E. Cavazos, MD, PhD, professor of neurology, Assistant Dean and Director of the South Texas Institutes of Health-appointed National Medical Scientist Training Program at UT Health San Antonio.
In an editorial accompanying the article, Duke University researchers Aidan McGinnis and Ru-Rong Ji wrote: “This comprehensive and elegant study by Boyd et al. . “
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