Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, dietary intake improve acne severity

Key takeaways:

• By week 16, patients’ mean omega-3 fatty acid levels increased from 4.9% to 8.3%.
• 79.2% of participants reported their acne severity improved by the end of the study.

An increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids, through diet and supplementation, improved acne severity, according to a study.

“The implementation of dietary interventions with nutrients that may alleviate acne severity as an adjunctive, feasible treatment option is promising, but scientific evidence remains scarce,” Anne Guertler, MD, of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and colleagues wrote. “In this context, omega-3 fatty acids, including alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have been proposed as promising agents due to their diverse biological functions.”

According to the authors, EPA and DHA are essential nutrients known for their anti-inflammatory properties, which suggests they may have potential to alleviate acne severity. Over the span of 16 weeks, the authors analyzed how EPA and DHA levels, through both dietary intervention and supplementation, affect patients with acne who are not taking prescription medication.

The study included 60 patients who adhered to a Mediterranean diet and took oral algae-derived omega-3 fatty acids with 600 mg of DHA and 300 mg of EPA from week 1 to 8 and then 800 mg DHA and 400 mg EPA from week 8 to 16.

At baseline, 98.3% of patients had an EPA/DHA deficit, defined as less than 8% compared with the target level of 8% to 11%. The mean EPA/DHA level was borderline severely deficient at 4.9%.

However, by the end of the study, the mean EPA/DHA level increased to 8.3% (P < .001). Further, the researchers observed objective improvements in both inflammatory and noninflammatory lesions (P < .001).

Compared with baseline, 79.2% of patients reported that their acne severity improved, whereas 13.2% said it remained unchanged and 7.5% reported worsened acne severity.

When it comes to diet, baseline reports among patients showed that higher acne severity was not linked to the intake of vegetables (23%), fruit (20%), nuts (11.7%) and whole grains (11.7%) but was linked to the consumption of refined sugar (53.3%), alcohol (53.3%), chocolate (51.7%), cow’s milk (46.7%) and saturated fats (46.7%).

After adhering to the Mediterranean diet and taking EPA/DHA supplementation for 16 weeks, patients’ DLQI scores decreased from 4.9 to 2.4 (P < .001). Those with acne papulopustulosa saw more improvement than those with acne comedonica (P = .006).

“Many patients with acne have an EPA/DHA deficit,” the authors concluded. “Lifestyle interventions, including a plant-focused Mediterranean diet and EPA/DHA supplementation for 16 weeks, led to significant increase in [omega-3 fatty acid] levels ... in patients with mild to moderate acne.”