In conclusion, our findings from both DSS and TNBS in vivo colitic models as well as from a Caco-2 in vitro inflammation model support the beneficial role of diet enriched in plant-derived oil rich in ALA in rats with intestinal inflammation. Our results also confirm the antiinflammatory efficiency of plant-derived (n-3) fatty acid supplementation in colitis, as has been suggested in previous studies [16,17,36,39]. Furthermore, our findings present a possible advantage of plant-derived oil rich in ALA compared with fish oil supplementation, particularly in patients who take anticoagulant medications and/ or suffer from conditions that involve bleeding events, such as active IBD. Taken together, the outcomes of this study suggest that ALA alone has potential as an anti-inflammatory agent that is not necessarily dependent on its conversion to the longer (n-3) PUFA, EPA and DHA.

Ram Reifen, Anna Karlinsky, Aliza H. Stark, Zipi Berkovich, Abraham Nyskab The School of Nutritional Sciences, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel bSackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.