A clinical study suggested that dietary improvement with omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish oil may prove useful in treating patients with diabetic neuropathy.

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is caused by damage to peripheral nerves mainly affecting the nerves of feet and legs. It occurs in patients with poorly managed diabetes. The symptoms may vary from pain, numbness, paresthesia to the ulceration in the extremities. It is also the main cause of non-traumatic amputations. Till date, there is no effective treatment for peripheral neuropathy, and so with increasing prevalence of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and associated complications, there is a need of promising treatment that can preserve nerve function.

The review study has been conducted to evaluate the potential of fish oil as a promising treatment for peripheral neuropathy. For this study, various databases of the PubMed were searched, and relevant articles on this topic were selected for the review.

The studies included in the review support the role of fish oil in cardiovascular health. However, there is lack of evidence regarding the effect of fish oil on diabetes complications including neuropathy. Some pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that fish oil can slowly progress and reverse diabetic neuropathy. Fish oil also has anti-inflammatory properties. It lowers the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio and is therefore known as an anti-thrombotic agent. Further, metabolites of EHA and DHA, the main fatty acids found in fish oil, are commonly known as resolvins, and neuroprotectin as they are found to be neuroprotective and can stimulate neuron outgrowth outside the body.