Table 1.
Effect of GLA-enriched oil supplements on various human disease from meta-analyses and recent studies
| Study | Disease1 and Study Type2 |
Supplement3 | location | # subjects | # studies | duration | outcome | effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin | ||||||||
| (Morse et al., 1989) | Atoptic dermatitis (CO, parallel) |
EPO (Epogam) |
UK, Italy, Finland |
311 | 9 (EPO) | 4, 8, or 12 wk |
Severity of symptoms |
reduced severity of symptoms |
| (Van Gool et al., 2004) | Atoptic dermatitis (RCT, CO, CCT) |
EPO, BO, BCO; 90–480mg GLA/d (children); 132–720mg GLA/d (adult) |
Germany, Italy, UK, Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, |
1071 | 22 (total) BO (6) EPO (12) BCO ( 1) |
3–24wk | Severity of symptoms |
no effect |
| (Bamford et al., 2013) | Eczema (AE, AD, AEDS) adult, children (RCTs) |
EPO, BO | UK, Italy, Germany, India, NZ, Finland, Sweden, USA, Switzerland |
1596 | 27 (total) 19 (EPO) 8 (BO) |
3–24wk | Severity of symptoms |
no effect |
| (Morse and Clough, 2006) | Atopic eczema | EPO (Efamol®) |
1207 | 26 | 4–8wks | Severity of symptoms |
reduced severity of symptoms |
|
| (Fiocchi et al., 1994) | Atoptic dermatitis, infants |
EPO, 3g oil/d |
Italy | 10 | na | 4wk | Lesion number; Severity of Symptoms |
decrease number (trend); reduced severity of symptoms |
| (van Gool et al., 2003) | Atoptic dermatitis, infants (RCT) |
BO, 100mg/d | Netherlands | 118 | na | 6mo | Incidence in 1st yr; Severity of symptoms |
no prevention benefit; reduced severity of symptoms (trend) |
| (Kitz et al., 2006) | Atoptic dermatitis, infants | GLA, 40mg/d |
Germany | 131 | na | 6 mo | Prevention | no effect |
| (Kawamura et al., 2011) | Atoptic dermatitis, adult |
GLA, 200mg/d, oil of Mucor circinelloides in food |
Japan | 130 | na | 16wk | Trans-water loss; Nocturnal itching |
no effect; decreased |
| (Simon et al., 2014) | Atoptic dermatitis, children and adult (open study, non-controlled) |
EPA, 4–6g GLA/d |
Switzerland | 21 | na | 12wk | SCORAD4 index | plasma GLA content correlates with SCORAD |
| Arthritis | ||||||||
| (Cameron et al., 2011) (Macfarlane et al., 2011) |
Rheumatoid arthritis (RCT, parallel, placebo controlled) |
Herbal intervention 525–540mg GLA/d |
UK, USA | 286 (total) >90 (in 3 studies) |
22 (total) EPO (2) BCO (1) |
6mo | Morning stiffness; Pain |
decreased (2 of 3); no effect |
| (Cameron et al., 2011) (Macfarlane et al., 2011) |
Rheumatoid arthritis | 1400- 2800mg GLA/d |
USA, Finland | >111 | EPO (1) BO (2) BCO (1) |
6mo | Pain; Morning stiffness; Joint tenderness; Joint swelling; |
decreased; decreased; improvement; decreased; |
| Asthma | ||||||||
| (Arm et al., 2013) | Mild asthma, adults (randomized) |
BO+EO (GLA, 1.67g/d+ SDA, 0.88g/d) |
USA | 37 | na | 3wk | Basophil, Neutrophil leukotriene production (ex vivo) |
>50% decrease (basophil response); >35% decrease (neutrophil response) |
| (Ziboh et al., 2004) | Mild asthma, adults (randomized) |
BO (2g GLA/d) |
USA | 24 | na | 12mo | Neutrophil leukotriene production (ex vivo); Peak flow |
>20% decrease (p<0.05); no effect |
1
AD, atopic dermatitis; AE, atopic eczema; AEDS, atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome;
2
RCT, randomized clinical trial; CO crossover; CCT, controlled clinical trial
3
BO, borage oil: BCO. Blackcurrant oil; EPO, evening primrose oil; EO, echium oil; GLA, gamma-linolenic acid; SDA, stearidonic acid
4
SCORAD, SCOing Atopic Dermatitis