Food for Thought: Can a Concussion be Prevented with Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplementation?
Sports-related injuries, which include concussions, are on the rise for people of all ages. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup that took place in Russia, there were many injuries, some of which resulted in players having to miss their next game or the rest of the World Cup. This was seen as early as in the first three days of the World Cup. FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence Dubai has been collecting the evidence and providing timely injury updates. In addition, FIFA has a SCAT / sport concussion assessment tool and a six-step concussion protocol that is used in practice. (10) Mr. Ben Dinnery, injury data analyst and digital content writer with Premier Injuries, has been sharing statistics via the World Cup Injury Report. “86 reported injuries during the World Cup. Plus, a further 3 absences due to illness. England and France were joint highest [seven]. Australia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, and Panama all reported one” explains Ben Dinnery from Premier Injuries. In one of Mr. Dinnery’s report it was mentioned, “ahead of the quarter-finals, 73 reported injuries, 3 illness, 47 in-play of which 18 are muscular related, 12 players withdrawn during the first half, 4 at half-time, and 31 players withdrawn in the second half”. (6) It is no wonder that we need to focus on sports injury prevention to help keep athletes in the game and to encourage children of all age groups to have an active lifestyle. This explains the importance of the RAIN (Reducing Athletic Injury Now) project, led by Dr. Fredric Abramson, the founder of Digital Nutrition and a Johns Hopkins adjunct professor in the Biotechnology Master’s program. Dr. Abramson explains, “We have identified three genetic groupings that can impact an athlete’s injury risk and performance. The first is the genetic inputs to the athlete’s body structure. The second grouping relates to how genes interact with the person’s nutrient stream. The third group uses genetic research showing how genes impact behavior”. (4) During the RAIN project, the “Personalized Medicine: Health Promotion Within Preventive Medicine & Sports Medicine” conceptual map was created to depict the relationship between these concepts, namely personalized nutrition, sports injury prevention, and disease prevention and the respective outcomes including the effect on one’s health. The end result being more healthy athletes and champions as well as more healthy individuals with a better quality of life. (1)
There has been only one study that examined taking DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) supplementation as prophylaxis and its effect on serum NFL / neurofilament light, which is a biomarker for brain injury. The researchers found that taking DHA as supplement lead to a decrease in serum NFL, which explains the “neuroprotective effect” seen in the American football athletes in this study. (8) It is important to stay within the desired range. In this one human trial, it was reported that those who were taking higher doses of Omega-3 suffered more sports-related concussions. (9) Responses to this particular study can be found by Oliver et al. at https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Citation/2018/03000/Nutritional_Supplements_for_the_Treatment_and.9.aspx and by Trojian et al. at https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Citation/2018/03000/Response_to_the_Letter_to_the_Editor.10.aspx.
“Early and optimal doses of n-3FA, even in a prophylactic setting, have the potential to improve outcomes”. (5) According to the Brain Health Education and Research Institute (BHERI), “omega-3s should be consumed at already FDA-approved doses of 3–4 g of EPA+DHA daily in soft gels daily (5 capsules of quality concentrated fish oil) to increase the resiliency of the brain to withstand injury in addition to use if injury should occur.” (2) They also have a protocol for taking Omega-3 in cases of concussion. (3) As per Oasis Chiropractic, Omega-3 testing can be done at home using OmegaQuant, which is a take-home test. This particular test uses a finger prick blood sample that is mailed for analysis. The therapeutic range is 8–12%. If it is lower than this, then they suggest adding Omega-3 fish oil to one’s diet and retesting in 120 days. (7)
In conclusion, more research, clinical evidence, and human trials are needed about Omega-3 and its preventive measure for concussions. Omega-3’s have a number of documented health benefits. However, there is no science on humans to identify whether Omega-3 levels can predict the likelihood or severity of a concussion. The main documented Omega-3 benefits relate to post-concussion treatment and recovery.
REFERENCES
1. Asham, N. (2018). Personalized medicine: health promotion within preventive medicine & sports medicine. Retrieved from https://www2.slideshare.net/NermeenAsham/personalized-medicine-health-promotion-within-preventive-medicine-sports-medicine
2. Brain Health and Research Institute. Retrieved from http://www.brainhealtheducation.org/resources/advances-in-tbi-management/#goodidea
3. Brain Health and Research Institute. Retrieved from http://www.brainhealtheducation.org/resources/brain-injury-protocol/
4. Digital Nutrition. Retrieved from http://www.digitalnutrition.net
5. Lewis, M. D. (2016). Concussions, traumatic brain injury, and the innovative use of omega-3s. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 35(5), 469–475.
6. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6420937112731811840/
7. Oasis Chiropractic. Retrieved from http://www.cottagegrovechiro.com/3-easy-ways-to-reduce-the-risk-of-concussion-cottage-grove-chiropractic/
8. Oliver, J. M., Jones, M. T., Kirk, K. M., Gable, D. A., Repshas, J. T., Johnson, T. A., … & Zetterberg, H. (2016). Effect of Docosahexaenoic Acid on a Biomarker of Head Trauma in American Football. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 48(6), 974–982.
9. Trojian, T. H., Wang, D. H., & Leddy, J. J. (2017). Nutritional supplements for the treatment and prevention of sports-related concussion — evidence still lacking. Current sports medicine reports, 16(4), 247–255.
10. USA Today. Retrieved from https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/scat5-sport-concussion-assessment-tool.pdf?cloudid=y0qwvjew3zzz0bxx0a0h
