The effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on seizure frequency in individuals with epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Background

Although there is ample evidence for the effect of omega-3 supplementation on seizure frequency in individuals with epilepsy, the results are inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to elucidate the potential effect of omega-3 supplementation in the adult and pediatric population.

Methods

Clinical trials articles were searched in electronic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed/Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar database up to October 2020). No language limitation was imposed in the literature search. Moreover, gray literature search was done via searching the references of identified review papers to find more potentially relevant articles.

Results

In order, the duration of the intervention and dosage of omega-3 fatty acid supplement of the included studies ranged from 12 to 42 weeks and 1000–2880 mg/day. Pooled results from the random-effects model indicated that seizure frequency following supplementation of omega-3 fatty acid decreased significantly (WMD: −6.15, 95% CI: −7.78, −4.53, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the results of the subgroup analysis revealed that seizure frequency was more alleviated in studies that used a daily dose of 1500 mg or less of omega-3 fatty acids as well as studies that had an intervention duration of more than 16 weeks. More importantly, our findings also showed that the effect of omega-3 intervention was greater in adults than in children with epilepsy.

Conclusion

The current meta-analysis on available trials suggested that omega-3 supplementation resulted in beneficial effects on seizure frequency in adult and children with epilepsy.

KEYWORDS:

• Docosahexaenoic acid
• eicosapentaenoic acid
• epilepsy
• omega-3
• seizure
• meta-analysis
• ‌supplementation
• ‌neurological disorder

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammad Hassan Sohouli

Mohammad Hassan Sohouli is a Ph.D. student of nutrition sciences at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Elham Razmpoosh

Elham Razmpoosh is a Ph.D in nutrition and a Senior Research Fellow at Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Mitra Zarrati

Mitra Zarrati is an associate professor of nutrition at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Shapour Jaberzadeh

Shapour Jaberzadeh is a professor of Neuroscience at School of Primary and Allied Health Care of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.