Omega 3 fatty acids as nutraceuticals in sporting performances.

— It is now known an increased oxidative stress and inflammatory responses among individuals performing strenuous exercise. In addition, it is known that exhaustive and/or unaccustomed exercise can lead to muscle fatigue, delayed onset muscle soreness, and a decrement in performance. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (3PUFAs) have been shown to decrease the production of inflammatory eicosanoids, cytokines, and reactive oxygen species, to possess immunomodulatory effects, and to attenuate inflammatory diseases. Although, a number of studies have assessed the efficacy of 3PUFA supplementation on red blood cell deformability, muscle damage, inflammation, and metabolism during exercise, only a few studies have evaluated the impact of 3PUFA supplementation on exercise performance. The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence regarding the potential of ω3FA supplementation for positively impacting the physiological response to exercise. In particular, this review will evaluate the efficacy of ω3FA supplementation on exercise-induced muscle damage and inflammation, exercise metabolism, exercise performance (including muscular and aerobic adaptations) in humans. This review demonstrates that, at present, we cannot conclude the hypothesis that ω3PUFA supplementation is effective and ergogenic, and that the data is inconclusive whether ω3PUFA supplementation effectively attenuates the inflammatory and immunomodulatory response to exercise. Future human studies should assess the effectiveness of ω3PUFA supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness, and subsequent exercise performance, in multisport athletes who typically engage in more than one bout of exercise per day, using a more robust research design than those that have been used in previous studies