Omega 3 Fatty Acids Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk

German researchers have found that Individuals with the most omega 3 fatty acids¹ concentrated in their red blood cells have significantly lower risk for type 2 diabetes.  Interestingly, the researchers also found that trans-palmitoleic acid (16:1n−7) was also protective, confirming other research I reported on yesterday.  Link:  Are Low Fat Diets Helping to Cause Type 2 Diabetes? 
Analyzing red blood cell membrane levels of fatty acids is easy to do and is considered to predict the types of fatty acids in cell membranes elsewhere in the body.  This is a European study tracking 2,724 middle-aged adults to see who developed diabetes over a 7-year follow-up period.  The researchers showed that enzymes that influence fatty acid metabolism were highly predictive of risk, meaning that individuals with higher level of these two fatty acids had better fatty acid metabolism.  This means that not only is it important to have these types of fatty acids in the diet, it is important to have functional enzyme systems which rely on B vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and numerous fruit and vegetable co-factors.

This helps explain that a varied diet of appropriate calories requires various co-factors for the proper metabolism of fat and when this works right an individual is much less likely to become insulin resistant and develop diabetes.