by Jonathan Benson
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have made a breakthrough discovery that could mean the end of liver disease in children with intestinal failure. Published in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the findings from their new study reveal that intravenous injections of fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, are capable of completely reversing liver disease, thus eliminating the need for liver transplants and other drastic medical interventions.
Entitled “Six Months of Intravenous Fish Oil Reverses Pediatric Intestinal Failure Associated Liver Disease,” the study involved testing the effects of intravenous fish oil treatment on a group of 10 children between the ages of two weeks and 18 years old. Each of the children in this group had been diagnosed with advanced intestinal failure-associated liver disease, a high-risk health condition that, for many of the people diagnosed with it, ends in early death.
These children were given the novel treatment for a total of six months, and their outcomes were compared to a group of 20 children who also had the disease but were given conventional treatment rather than the fish oil. Compared to this conventional control group, the fish oil group experienced dramatic recovery — after just 17 weeks of treatment, 80 percent of the children in the fish oil group experienced a complete recovery from their liver disease.
“With this particular study, we set out to determine if a finite period of six months of intravenous fish oil could safely reverse liver damage in these children, and we have had some promising results,” says Dr. Kara Calkins, a physician and assistant professor at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital Department of Neonatology and Developmental Biology, about the findings.
Current FDA-approved treatment protocol involves injecting children with GMO soybean oil So what did the children in the control group receive for their treatment?
Shockingly, they were given an injection of soybean oil, as this is the only treatment currently approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Despite the fact that a miniscule percentage of children given soybean oil derive any benefits whatsoever — the vast majority of soy-based products like soybean oil are also genetically-modified (GM), which carries its own inherent dangers — this is what the FDA considers to be “safe” and “effective” treatment for intestinal failure-associated liver disease.
“[B]ecause intravenous fish oil is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is much more costly than soybean oil, it is typically not covered by insurance,” adds Dr. Calkins about the barriers to using fish oil. “As a result, this oil is considered experimental and is currently available only under special protocols. If it proves safe and effective for patients, we hope it would eventually be available for wider use.”
Study also reveals that soybean oil is a highly-toxic poison that can kill children
Besides its complete ineffectiveness — compared to fish oil’s 80 percent success rate after 17 weeks of treatment, soybean oil was found to be only five percent effective — the study also reveals that the conventional soybean oil treatment is highly toxic and often leads to early death in children. According to a UCLA study press release, soybean oil injections can actually cause intestinal failure-associated liver disease, which, in turn, can lead to early mortality.
Previous studies have already demonstrated the merits of intravenous fish oil injections over conventional soybean oil injections with regards to treating intestinal failure-associated liver disease, but none of them determined an appropriate duration for treatment.
Thanks to this new study, experts hope the FDA will eventually approve fish oil as a preferable treatment option over soybean oil, which has now been proven to be ineffective and completely unsafe.
