Nearly 1.5 billion people around the world experience pain on a regular basis. The number increases every year while specialists still do not know how to prevent this symptom.
On the other hand, there are also doubts about how to treat pain without resorting to drugs such as anti-inflammatories or opioids, since these, although effective, often have side effects, especially in older people, who usually take several medications on a routine basis.
Consequently, there is increasing interest in learning how food and nutrients can affect pain.
Now, a team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Center for Biomedical Research in the Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP) and IMDEA-Alimentación, all of these entities in Spain, have identified that the consumption of oily fish it is associated with a lower incidence and a better evolution of pain among those over 60 years of age.
Vitamin D has actions on bone metabolism, inflammation, and sleep regulation, while omega-3 fats have anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions.
Given that both nutrients can be ingested as part of the diet, especially through fish, Adrián Carballo-Casla of the UAM and his colleagues set out to test whether a higher consumption of fish and intake of vitamin D and omega-3 fats were associated with the onset and evolution of pain.
Blue fish. (Photo: Anthony R. Picciolo/NOAA/NODC)
To test their hypothesis, the researchers used data from the ENRICA-Seniors-1 cohort, made up of 950 people over 60 years of age from all over Spain, whom they monitored for five years.
“This way of analyzing the data was not accidental, since it allowed us to minimize reverse causality, that is, to be more sure that it was the consumption of fish and its nutrients that modified pain, and not the other way around,” they explain. .
Analyzing the data, the researchers found that a higher consumption of oily fish (between one and two servings per week) was associated with a 32% lower risk of pain occurrence after five years, as well as a higher probability of 30% less worsening of pain.
“We were struck by the fact that only the consumption of oily fish, and not that of white fish, was associated with a lower risk of pain,” they detail.
“These differences were probably due to the higher content of vitamin D and omega-3 fats in oily fish, since these two nutrients were also associated with a lower incidence and better evolution of pain. For example, a serving of sardines or mackerel could provide up to five times more vitamin D and three times more omega-3 than a serving of hake or squid, according to data from the Spanish food composition tables.”
With the necessary caution, since this has only been investigated in older people, the researchers believe that these new data would support the consumption of oily fish (as well as the intake of vitamin D and omega-3 fats) as tools for prevention and non-pharmacological treatment. of pain, fields in which, they recall, “there is little evidence, despite the high cost that pain has for society, due to the use of the health system, the disability and the associated loss of work productivity.”
There are two studies completed by Adrián Carballo-Casla and his colleagues. One is titled “Dietary Vitamin D Intake, Pain Incidence, and Pain Changes in Older Adults: The Seniors-ENRICA-1 Cohort.” And it has been published in the academic journal Nutrients. The other is entitled “Fish consumption, omega-3 fatty acid intake, and risk of pain: the Seniors-ENRICA-1 cohort”. And it has been published in the academic journal Clinical Nutrition. (Source: UAM)