Ahiflower Supports Brain Development Markers in Animal Model of Parenteral Nutrition: Study

A new animal study found that a parenteral nutrition (PN) emulsion featuring Ahiflower, a plant-based oil rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids ALA, SDA, and GLA, may have certain advantages over conventional PN emulsions related to brain development. The findings were published in Current Developments in Nutrition.  

PN therapies are used to sustain life for millions of pre-term infants and neonates each year. One of the key challenges observed in conventional emulsions used in PN is a propensity for impaired immunity, leading to inflammation that negatively impacts early brain development.

PN delivers all nutrients intravenously when the GI tract is too immature or impaired to take in nutrition orally. It’s used for premature infants, neonates, and critically ill individuals who cannot consume or digest food normally. Lipid emulsions are an essential component of these life-saving therapies as they provide essential fatty acids and dense calories without fluid overload.

In the present study, researchers found that the novel plant-based emulsion containing Ahiflower Oil, used in a piglet model of parenteral nutrition, supported markers of critical metabolic and developmental processes in the neonatal brain. The shorter-chain fatty acids present in Ahiflower oil, namely ALA, SDA, and GLA, appeared to prevent neuroinflammation that is caused by a conventional PN emulsion counterpart, SMOFlipid, which is the current standard-of-care lipid emulsion. PN causes neuroinflammation caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leakage from the gut.

Neonatal piglet models were used for their closeness to human neonatal brain development; researchers uncovered the mechanisms by which plant derived shorter-chain omega-3 fatty acids supported brain health and development, and how it compared to a conventional lipid emulsion. According to the findings, the Ahiflower oil-containing emulsion, marketed as Vegaven and developed by the lead authors, Drs. Michael Zaugg and Eliana Lucchinetti, completely reversed the adverse effects of conventional PN emulsions.

“Our findings go beyond simply measuring fatty acid levels in the brain,” said Zaugg. “We measured fundamental growth signaling pathways in the developing brain, specifically related to insulin and insulin-like growth factor, and further determined the supply of energy fuels to the growing brain in PN with Vegaven versus SMOFlipid. These measurements show that PN with Vegaven provides significantly more energy substrates to the developing brain, keeping it metabolically active and supporting neurodevelopment by activation of key transcription factors. In contrast, fish oil-based SMOFlipid leads to ‘energy stress,’ which promotes detrimental catabolic events and inhibits growth.”

“This research represents an important step forward in understanding how Ahiflower oil’s uniquely rich plant-derived fatty acids help in brain development,” said Greg Cumberford, science lead at Natures Crops International, the manufacturer or Ahiflower. “The physiological and sufficient formation of long-chain fatty acids DHA and ARA, critical for neonatal brain development from their shorter precursors, has obvious major advantages, without provoking trade-offs of whole-body inflammation and insulin resistance.”

The same researchers showed that bioactive lipid mediators are generated from the precursors found in Ahiflower, enhancing immune and metabolic processes. Collectively, their findings suggest that Ahiflower oil may support beneficial inflammatory modulation and increased insulin sensitivity, along with biological processes underlying healthy growth and neurological development.

“These discoveries reinforce the idea that gaps in omega-3 nutrition, whether critical as in PN or healthspan-related in dietary nutrition, can be readily met from plant-based omega-3 sources that complement marine omega-3 sources,” said Cumberford. “By better understanding the unique biological activity of plant-derived omega-3s, we can help build a more resilient and sustainable omega-3 ecosystem.”