Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research recently reported that regular use of fish oil supplements, which contain high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, was linked with a reduced risk of breast cancer.The reduction in risk appeared to be restricted to invasive ductal breast cancer, the most common type of the disease.
This was revealed in a prospective study, of the association between the long-term use of 15 different so-called "specialty" supplements and breast cancer risk.
Emily White and colleagues used data from a massive survey of women in western Washington who filled out questionnaires between 2000 and 2002 regarding their diet, supplement intake, exercise habits and overall health and lifestyle. The analysis included more than 35,000 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 76 who didn’t have breast cancer at the study outset. By the end of 2007, 880 of these women had developed breast cancer.
Women who reported taking fish oil at the start of the study were roughly half as likely to develop ductal carcinoma of the breast, the most common form of breast cancer, during the follow-up years. Women taking fish oil showed no reduced risk of the less-common lobular breast cancer.
The scientists accounted for factors that might have influenced the women’s cancer risk such as age, body weight, fruit and vegetable consumption, aspirin use, smoking status, age at which they first gave birth and age at menarche.
The remaining specialty supplements were not associated with breast cancer risk: Specifically, use of supplements sometimes taken for menopausal symptoms (black cohosh, dong quai, soy, or St. John's wort) was not associated with risk.
How fish oil supplements might prevent cancer remains unknown, but inflammation — linked to cancer in many studies — may play a central role; fish oil contains omega-3 fatty acids, which impede a major inflammatory molecule called nuclear factor kappa-B.
The authors could not quantify the amount of fish oil supplements consumed, because "current use" was defined as any amount taken by a woman. But most women used it four to seven days a week.
"The lower risk of breast cancer among women taking fish oil supplements could be due to chance," said Eric Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, who reviewed the new study.
Still, fish oil continues to excite many, as evidence emerges about its protective effect on cardiovascular disease and now cancer.
More study is needed. One such research is about to start with Harvard researchers currently enrolling 20,000 patients for a five-year randomized trial to examine the effects of fish oil supplements and vitamin D on the risks of cancer, heart disease and other ills.
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