Grant: Operating Grant

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common hormone disorders affecting up to 18% of young women. The diagnosis of PCOS is associated with infertility and includes the presence of irregular menstrual cycles, multiple cysts in the ovaries and high blood levels of the hormone testosterone. Women with PCOS are likely to be overweight or obese, and to have high levels of bad fats, cholesterol and sugar in the blood, which are risk factors for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Currently, we are lacking safe and effective treatments to target both the hormonal and bad fat levels in the blood for young women with PCOS. The drug metformin is commonly prescribed to reduce high blood sugar but does not usually improve blood levels of bad fats. Dietary fish oil supplementation has been shown to effectively reduce bad fats in the blood in adults with disrupted fat metabolism, however its effect to improve fat metabolism in PCOS patients has not been examined in detail. The objective of this study is to assess for the first time the impact of dietary fish oil, metformin and a combination of these on blood fat and cholesterol metabolism in overweight or obese women diagnosed with PCOS. The proposed study will be a controlled dietary intervention where the participants receive 1) fish oil, 2) metformin or 3) fish oil plus metformin for 12 weeks. Blood fat and cholesterol metabolism will be compared in the fasted and fed state following a meal before and after the dietary intervention period, together with other hormonal and metabolic outcomes. We expect the dietary fish oil to significantly decrease blood fat levels in both the fasted and fed state, and the combined use of fish oil and metformin to provide greater improvement in these CVD risk factors. Collectively, our findings will provide timely and valuable evidence for therapeutic and dietary guidelines in the early management of CVD risk in young women with PCOS.