Can fish oil maintain Crohn's disease in remission?

One of the greatest challenges in managing Crohn's disease is to maintain remission. Although pharmacologic approaches to maintaining Crohn's disease in remission have significantly improved, most of the currently available modalities are associated with significant morbidity. Recently, an enteric-coated preparation of fish oil has been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of relapse in patients with Crohn's disease in remission who are at high risk of relapse. Because of minimal side effects, fish oil appears to be an ideal maintenance agent in Crohn's disease. However, until results from studies that compare the therapeutic effect of fish oil to the currently available maintenance agents are available, fish oil supplementation cannot be recommended as a sole maintenance agent at present. It does, however, seem prudent to promote a diet rich in fish oil in patients with Crohn's disease.