TUESDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Youngsters at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes might be able to prevent the disease by eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a new study suggests.

Reporting in the Sept. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the University of Colorado found that high-risk children with the highest omega-3 intake had up to a 55 percent reduced risk of type 1 diabetes.

"The kids with more omega-3 in their diets were about half as likely to develop type 1 diabetes than those with less," said study author Jill Norris, a professor in the department of preventive medicine and biometrics at the Barbara David Center for Childhood Diabetes at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish, walnuts and certain plant oils, such as canola and olive. Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties and are believed to help reduce the incidence of heart disease.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks the islet cells in the pancreas. Insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, is produced by the islet cells. In past research, scientists discovered that Norwegian children who were regularly given cod liver oil supplements, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, had a lower incidence of type 1 diabetes. It wasn't clear, however, whether the vitamin D or the omega-3 was responsible for the reduced risk.

To assess the affect of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids on the risk of type 1 diabetes, Norris and her colleagues recruited 1,770 children who were at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes, either because they had a family member with the disease or because they had genetic markers that put them at a higher risk for developing type 1 diabetes.

Parents began periodically reporting dietary intake when the children were a year old. The average age at follow-up was 6.2 years. During that time period, 58 children developed type 1 diabetes, according to the study.

The researchers found no statistically significant differences in the rate of diabetes based on omega-6 consumption, however, there was a 55 percent reduced risk in those who reported consuming the most omega-3 fatty acids.

Because self-reported dietary information isn't always the most reliable indicator of actual consumption, the researchers conducted an analysis that included 244 children and measured a biomarker of omega-3 consumption from the blood. In this subgroup, the researchers found that omega-3 fatty acid consumption reduced the risk of type 1 diabetes by 37 percent.

Norris said the anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3s may be behind this potentially protective effect. "Inflammation is part of the very early process of diabetes," she explained.

"In type 1 diabetes, there is an inflammatory response that causes [islet] cell destruction, and it may be that omega-3 is a modulator of that inflammation," said Dr. Stuart Weiss, an endocrinologist at New York University Medical Center. Weiss cautioned that this effect may not be permanent, however. "It may just be that omega-3s have delayed the onset of the disease, but the longer those cells function, the better."

Weiss said he hopes the findings prompt a large, randomized, controlled study to confirm whether or not omega-3 consumption can truly prevent diabetes.

Norris said it's too soon to recommend that children, even those at high risk of diabetes, consume more omega-3s for the prevention of diabetes.

Weiss said that omega-3 fatty acids are often already part of a healthy diet since they're found in fish, fish oil and plant oils.

More information

Learn more about omega-3 fatty acids at the National Library of Medicine.

FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A study designed to tell which insulin-plus-drug regimen might best control type 2 diabetes has produced disappointing preliminary results, with none of the three strategies tested coming out on top.

"What this shows is that none of the strategies in the study can be recommended" as being superior to the other, said Dr. Graham T. McMahon, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and co-author of an editorial accompanying the report, published online Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Instead, he said, the insulin regimen would probably have to be tailored to each patient, McMahon said.

The report was released early, because the preliminary, one-year results of the four-year study are being presented at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, in Amsterdam.

The study, led by British diabetes specialists at the University of Oxford, included 708 participants with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, which affects about 95 percent of diabetics, typically occurs in adulthood and is often tied to obesity.

All of the trial participants were given maximum doses of two diabetes drugs, metformin and sulfonylurea, and a different regimen of injected insulin three times a day, two times a day or just once a day. The once-a-day group got an extra dose if deemed necessary.

The goal was to reduce blood levels of glycolated hemoglobin, which forms when sugar enters blood cells, to 6.5 percent or less.

The results overall were not impressive: The treatment goal was achieved by just 23.9 percent of those getting insulin three times a day, 17 percent of those getting insulin twice a day and 8.1 percent of those in the once-a-day group, the researchers reported.

The greater success rate in the two- and three-times-a-day regimen had a down side, the team noted, since it was also accompanied by an increased incidence of weight gain and low blood sugar levels, the report said.

Still, the results indicated that "the best thing to be done is to follow current guidelines," McMahon said. That means "using long-acting drugs and adding insulin either once, twice or three times a day," he said, depending on each patient's particular needs.

What the new data "suggests to the doctor is that if you are serious about controlling diabetes, you should be willing to use the more complex method," added Dr. Larry Deeb, clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida and immediate past president of the American Diabetes Association.

Diabetes control "is hard work for doctor and patient," Deeb said, and "family doctors have got to learn to give insulin the way we endocrinologists do." Deeb is located in Tallahassee, Fla., where the ratio of endocrinologists is 1 to 75,000 inhabitants, he noted.

Family doctors can handle type 2 diabetes, McMahon said, but it is best if they do not work alone. "An endocrinologist, nutritionist and nurse-educator should cooperate," he said.

Because type 2 diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease, attention should be paid not only to blood sugar levels but also to other coronary risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, McMahon said.

What lies ahead for the British study is uncertain, McMahon said. "They are going to next look at what happens when the first steps fail," he said.

More information

For more on type 2 diabetes, consult the American Diabetes Association  .