Omega-3s: New Weapon Against Superbugs?

One of the biggest concerns with hospitalization is catching an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. It happened to my father-in-law about 15 years ago, and it was a serious infection requiring over a week in the hospital. He survived, but more superbugs are still around and have gotten worse.

Researchers in Australia examined one such superbug to see how it responds to exposure to omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil. This was a test-tube study and the paper isn’t published online yet, so I can’t check the methodology. What they have reported is that one such superbug, Acinetobacter baumannii, doesn’t seem to discriminate between the fats that it consumes in the hosts’ body. The omega-3s seem to make the bacteria susceptible to a greater variety of antibiotics.

Remember, this is a test-tube study; not everything that works in a test tube works in a human body. Human trials will take some time if those scientists and others can replicate this research. What it means to us right now is that the fish oil we’ve been taking all these years may have benefits we never even considered. I’ll cover another such benefit on Saturday.

Wednesday night at 9 E.T. is the Insider Conference Call. Topics on the docket are more info on omega-3s and cardiovascular disease, plus collagen and skin health. You can still participate by becoming an Insider before 8 p.m. Wednesday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: mBio. DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01070-21