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FISH/OMEGA-3 LONG CHAIN
FATTY
ACIDS
(March 2006)
A long history of study supports the likelihood that a high
consumption of oily fish reduces the incidence of prostate cancer, and,
based on more recent analysis, retards the progression of established
disease. The favored explanation is that long-chain fatty acids effect a
reduction of the synthesis of prostaglandins, thought to promote cancer
growth through promoting increased cellular proliferation.
A unique long-term study begun in 1961 (Lancet, June 2001)
“studied the association between fish consumption and prostate cancer in a
population-based prospective cohort of 6272 Swedish men. During the 30
years of follow-up, men who ate no fish had a two-fold to three-fold
higher frequency of prostate cancer than those who ate moderate or high
amounts did.”
Epidemiologists from Harvard and the NCI reported the 14
year follow-up of a cohort of 47,866 men, 2965 of whom developed prostate
cancer, and found that “Eating fish more than three times per week was
associated with an 11% overall risk reduction of prostate cancer, and the
strongest association was for metastatic cancer [risk reduction, 26%],
compared with infrequent consumption, i.e., less than twice per month” (Am
J Clin Nutr, 2004 Jul). Curiously, as was found also by others, a high
intake of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA - as found in flaxseed oil)
increased the risk of advanced prostate cancer.
Delay in PSA progression in 392 prostate cancer patients following
diagnosis and treatment was another finding in the Chan analysis
(reference above) of the large Health Professionals Follow-Up Study: “Men
in the highest versus lowest quartile of post-diagnostic fish consumption
had a multivariate hazard ratio of progression of 0.73 [i.e., a risk
reduction of 27%]”.
Lesser benefit and infrequently no
benefit, have been found in other studies, but, once again, the
preponderance of evidence suggests that increased fish consumption reduces
prostate cancer incidence and post-diagnostic disease progression.
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