A new study by the researchers of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has found that a Western high-fat diet can increase the risk of painful disorders common in people with conditions such as obesity or diabetes, according to Science Daily.
The study, published in the June edition of the journal Nature Metabolism, has also suggested that dietary changes may significantly reduce or even reverse painful conditions associated with inflammation, such as trauma, arthritis, or neuropathic pain caused by diabetes.
The researchers said the new findings could help treat chronic pain by simply making small changes in diet. The findings could also help develop drugs that block the release of certain fatty acids in the body.
Senior author Dr. Kenneth Hargreaves said, “This study exemplifies team science at its best — multiple scientists and clinicians with complementary expertise working together to make lives better.”
Dr. Hargreaves is a professor and chair of the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio.
Reducing fat is often advised to manage diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular diseases, but the role of lipids (fatty acids) in pain conditions has been unknown.
First co-author Dr. Jacob Boyd and his team studied the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pain conditions in both mice and humans. And they found that Western diets rich in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats were a potential risk factor for inflammatory as well as neuropathic pain.
Changing this diet, especially by lowering foods containing omega-6 and increasing omega-3 lipids, greatly reduced these pain conditions, the team found.
In addition, the researchers demonstrated that a high intake of diet rich in omega-6 lipids in patients with type 2 diabetic neuropathic pain was associated with increased pain levels and the need for taking analgesics.
Researcher Dr. José E. Cavazos said, “This paper is a high-profile contribution for a huge unmet translational need as there are no treatments altering the nature of this neurological disease.”
Dr. Cavazos is a professor of neurology, assistant dean and director of the National Institutes of Health-designated South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program at UT Health San Antonio.
“This comprehensive and elegant study from Boyd et al. may serve as a foundation for new clinical trials and ultimately provide new avenues for the clinical treatment of neuropathies,” wrote Duke University researchers Aidan McGinnis and Ru-Rong Ji in an editorial accompanying the paper. The article was published in Science Daily.
