The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) invites you to participate in a short survey about your
interaction with the ARDC and use of our national research infrastructure and services. The survey will take
approximately 5 minutes and is anonymous. It’s open to anyone who uses our digital research infrastructure
services including Reasearch Link Australia.
We will use the information you provide to improve the national research infrastructure and services we
deliver and to report on user satisfaction to the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program.
Please take a few minutes to provide your input. The survey closes COB Friday 29 May 2026.
Complete the 5 min survey now by clicking on the link below.
Dietary N-3 Fats And Outcomes In Early-onset Rheumatoid Arthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$453,693.00
Summary
There is considerable evidence that positive health benefits flow from increasing the dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. Benefits are seen in rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory disorders and heart disease. Previous studies of rheumatoid arthritis and dietary omega-3 fats had a common design which probably reduced the magnitude of the beneficial dietary effects. Therefore, a 'second generation' study is needed which addresses these common design issues in order to establish opt ....There is considerable evidence that positive health benefits flow from increasing the dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. Benefits are seen in rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory disorders and heart disease. Previous studies of rheumatoid arthritis and dietary omega-3 fats had a common design which probably reduced the magnitude of the beneficial dietary effects. Therefore, a 'second generation' study is needed which addresses these common design issues in order to establish optimal conditions for the use of dietary omega-3 fats in therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. The current proposal will address the previous design shortcomings by changing the background diet, measuring functional disability and joint damage as well as symptoms, starting treatment in early disease before joint damage has occurred, and by regulating concurrent drug use. The study will also evaluate a novel blood test that indicates the effect of advice to increase dietary omega-3 fats upon omega-3 nutritional status. If this nutritional index correlates with more favourable outcomes, a base will have been established for guiding treatment with omega-3 fats in routine clinical situations. This study is important because dietary treatment in rheumatoid arthritis: (a) offers sufferers with rheumatoid arthritis a more active role in the life long management of their disease. (b) has no on-going cost to the government health budget, and in fact, has the potential to decrease treatment costs in rheumatoid arthritis considerably (c) has wider applicability, e.g. for prevention and treatment of other inflammatory conditions and heart disease (d) needs to be tested with modern treatment protocols that involve multiple therapies started early in the course of rheumatoid arthritis, before irreversible impairment and disability has occurred (e) requires a nutritional index to guide treatment (f) must be evidence based.Read moreRead less