A novel Ahiflower human clinical trial, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, has studied the effects of supplementation with the extract on omega-3 levels.
Ahiflower oil is a plant-based, omega-rich and sustainable alternative to fish oil.
The study
Led by researchers in Germany at the University of Kiel, the randomised crossover trial studied the effects of dietary Ahiflower (Buglossoides arvensis) oil in circulating omega-3 levels and was the first to measure omega-3 oxylipin changes in humans and in cultured hepatic cells.
The results
The Kiel authors summarised: “Plant-derived ahiflower oil efficiently increases plasma EPA and corresponding eicosanoids and causes a distinct shift in the entire oxylipin pattern... The present study provides substantial evidence that SDA is a more powerful modulator of EPA and DHA oxylipin levels than ALA... In conclusion, ALA and SDA-rich ahiflower oil could serve as an alternative plant-derived source to increase EPA levels in normal weight, healthy humans, while changes in DHA levels are not expected.”
Further, consuming Ahiflower oil significantly raised a range of EPA oxylipins while slightly but significantly reducing some ARA (arachidonic acid) oxylipins and tended to lower ARA levels slightly.
Ahiflower oil ... exerts an overall anti-inflammatory phenotype in mammals and humans via IL-10 upregulation
This new evidence is consistent with Ahiflower oil’s recognised ability to exert an overall anti-inflammatory phenotype in mammals and humans via IL-10 upregulation, as well as by providing a wider array of anti-inflammatory oxylipin precursors.
Ahiflower acts differently than EPA/DHA sources but achieves comparable physiological effects — like significantly boosting EPA oxylipins — as fish oil.
In view of the omega-3 supplement industry’s recent supply chain challenges and overall quest to improve omega-3 status, the authors have shown how incorporating dietary Ahiflower oil into diets can help.