A recently published case-control and cross-sectional study in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Osteoporosis International stated that n-3 fatty acid effectively inhibits osteoclastogenesis and improves human bone health. 

N-3 fatty acid shows a significantly positive impact on bone metabolism, but the particular mechanisms carrying these effects in humans are not clear. Therefore, this analysis was conducted to evaluate whether being an objective indicator of its status, the n-3 FA plasma levels shows an association with bone-related markers and osteoporosis-related phenotypes in human bone marrow (BM) samples. For this, immunoassay and mass spectrometry/gas chromatography was carried out to measure n-3 FA levels in the bone biochemical markers and blood of BM aspirates, respectively. The BM fluid was derived from the patients who went through hip surgery due to either osteoporosis or osteoporotic hip fracture.

Patients with hip fracture showed 26.2% lower plasma n-3 levels as compared to the patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Further as per the multivariate analyses, a significant association was noticed between higher plasma n-3 level and higher bone mass at the total femur and lumbar spine. An inverse and direct association of n-3 plasma level was also seen with tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase level, respectively. All these outcomes showed a positive relationship between n-3 FA levels and bone phenotypes and bone resorption in humans.