Eating a rich omega-3 diet seems to reduce the risk of developing an aggressive form of prostate cancer according to a study appearing in the April 2009 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

This link was most obvious among men with a predisposition (genetic) to an aggressive form of this type of cancer.

Men who ate one or more servings of fatty fish per week had a 63% lower risk for being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer than men who never ate this type of fish.

This isn’t the first study to show that men who ate this type diet had a reduced risk for the this most deadly forms of cancer.

Still more clinical trials are needed to see which foods high in omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

“There is a lot of evidence that omega-3 fatty acids protect against heart disease and other diseases by targeting inflammation - and that may be what is going on here,” John S. Witte, PhD explains. He and researchers from the University of California, San Francisco studied 466 men with aggressive prostate cancer; 478 men without the disease.

The research subjects completed questionnaires on the diet they maintained, and had a genetic analysis performed so that the team could identify variants of the Cox-2 gene, which increases the risk of developing prostate cancer.

What the study of the information uncovered was that the subjects who ate little or no fatty fish and also had the Cox-2 variant were 5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer that was advanced.

However, the subjects who had eaten lots of omega-3 fatty acids had a lower risk of disease even if they also had the genetic variant Cox-2.

And all that was required was to eat one or more servings of fatty fish each week.

“The increase in risk associated with having the Cox-2 variant was essentially reversed in men who ate fish one or more times a week,” declared Witte.

In a 2007 study, omega-3 researcher Jorge Chavarro, PhD from Harvard Medical School and colleagues discovered a 41% decrease in the chance of prostate cancer for subjects who ate more omega-3 rich food than those with lower intake.

The team also discovered that subjects who ate fatty fish before getting a prostate cancer diagnosis, and continued to do so afterward, were less likely to suffer fatally with prostate cancer.

Omega-3 has been shown to be particularly protective against the more aggressive prostate cancers.

Even now, many questions remain.

No one is sure if the effect of the omega-3 in the fish works only on the aggressive form of cancer. Experts are starting to wonder if prostate cancer may be better divided into aggressive forms and more local, benign cancers.

While more work is being carried out and the results are awaited, your best bet if prostate cancer is an issue, or even if it isn’t, is to consider a diet rich in omega-3s, possibly even using omega-3 supplements, to help reduce the risks - Although check with your doctor first.

A diet rich omega-3 diet (besides salmon) might could include are halibut, sardines, shrimp, clams, catfish, cod, albacore, trout and herring as well foods like walnuts, oils like flaxseed and canola and delicious veggies like spinach.

Next - just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more information on how to lower prostate cancer with a omega 3 diet, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for an automatic video on omega 3 and prostate cancer.

Tags: Cancer

Share This