Health
News
Oily fish may protect against aggressive prostate cancer
Tucking into oily fish like salmon or mackerel as little as once a week could help in the battle against prostate cancer, according to a report published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
Previous research has found that eating oily fish - rich in Omega-3 fatty acids – may reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer but this is one of the first studies to show that Omega-3s may actually protect against advanced prostate cancer and improve survival in men with the disease.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco looked at 466 men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and 478 healthy men. The volunteers filled in detailed questionnaires about their food intake and were grouped according to how much Omega-3 they included in their diet.
The team found that those men who ate the most Omega-3 fatty acids had a 63 per cent reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer compared to men who ate the lowest amount. They also found that an Omega-3 rich diet even protected those men who carried the COX-2 gene variant – an inherited gene known to increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer by five times.
"The COX-2 increased risk of disease was essentially reversed by increasing Omega-3 fatty acid intake by a half a gram per day," said Professor John S Witte, lead author of the study. "If you want to think of the overall inverse association in terms of fish, where Omega-3 fatty acids are commonly derived, the strongest effect was seen from eating dark (oily) fish such as salmon one or more times per week."
Similar results were seen in those men who ate lots of shellfish also known to contain plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids. It is thought that the Omega-3 fatty acids may protect against the cancer by reducing the unhealthy inflammatory responses in the body.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men in the UK with 35,000 men diagnosed with the disease every year.
John Neate, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, welcomed the research but cautioned that other studies had not produced such promising results.
"Men should know that while some studies of Omega-3 and prostate cancer don't show much of a link, other studies do imply that the risk of a diagnosis with aggressive prostate cancer goes down with a larger intake of Omega-3, largely through oily fish," says Neate.
"It makes sense for men to think about their health in general and do all they can to adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle, and a suggestion to increase the intake of Omega-3 is a common part of that. This might improve their chances against developing prostate cancer, but it could also protect against a wide variety of other health problems that are likely to affect middle aged and older men."
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends men can eat up to four portions of oily fish a week, such as herring, kippers, mackerel, pilchards, sardines, salmon and trout.
The Prostate Cancer Charity www.prostate-cancer.org.uk
Useful links
- Oily fish may help prevent kidney disease
- Feel better with fish
- The health benefits of eating fish
- Can you eat too much fish?
- What is omega 3? Find out with the field guide to food fats
- Study raises debate about national screening programme
- Prostate cancer breakthrough
- Test to pinpoint prostate cancer 'tigers'
- Prostate cancer awareness
- Questions to ask your doctor about genito-urinary conditions
Recipes
The following two recipes were extracted from Healthy Eating: The Prostate Care Cookbook by Margaret Rayman, Kay Dilley and Kay Gibbons.
Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
