Bowel cancer patients who consume omega 3 fats from fish may help reduce the risk of mortality from their disease, new research suggests.
This knowledge "is crucial to inform clinical practice and counselling to improve survival outcomes after cancer diagnosis," say Dr Andrew Chan of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA, and colleagues in the journal Gut yesterday.
They explain that experimental evidence supports an anti-tumour activity of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which include eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid.
The team used information on 1,659 colorectal cancer patients from the long-term Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, conducting a prospective study.
Overall, a high intake of marine omega 3 fats after colorectal cancer diagnosis was associated with a significantly reduced risk of colorectal cancer-specific mortality.
They calculate that patients consuming at least 0.30 grams a day had a 41% lower risk of mortality than patients who consumed less than 0.10 grams a day.
Furthermore, patients who increased their intake by at least 0.15 grams a day after diagnosis were at a 70% lower risk of mortality than those who did not change or changed their intake by less than 0.02 grams a day.
However, intake of omega 3 fats did not appear to be linked to all cause mortality after colorectal cancer diagnosis.
The researchers say that using a homogenous population of nurses for the analysis reduces the risk of confounding factors, such as level of education or socioeconomic status, being responsible for the link.
They conclude that: "Increasing consumption of marine omega 3 polyunsaturated fats after diagnosis may confer additional benefits to patients with colorectal cancer."
Marine omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and survival after colorectal cancer diagnosis. Gut 20 July 2016; doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-311990 [abstract]
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