Fatty fish may cut prostate cancer risk

California, March 26: A new American study found a diet rich in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel or sardines once a week may protect men against advanced prostate cancerdefinedefine.

According to a report published in the April issue of the Clinical Cancerdefine Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, fatty acids may work by modifying a specific variant of the COX-2 gene, known to produce inflammation that can lead to prostate cancerdefine.

The lead author of the study, John S. Witte, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, said, "Eating a healthy diet including dark fish and other sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids may decrease the risk of more advanced prostate cancer even if one has a cox-2 genetic predisposition to the disease.”

The study found men who ate one or more servings of fatty acids could slash the risk of developing prostate cancer by as much as 6 percent.

Professor Witte and team compared the diets of 466 men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and 378 men without the cancer. A diet questionnaire was used to assess the individuals' diet. The researchers examined participants' DNA and genotyped nine COX-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms.

They found that men who consumed oily fish or shell food, which also contain fatty acids, (one to three times a month) had a 36 percent reduced risk of developing prostate cancer than men who never ate fish.

Men who ate oily fish once a week led to 57 percent reduction in risk. Males with the inherited COX-2 gene are more than five times more likely to develop prostate cancer, but researchers found that high intake of fatty acids wiped out this risk factor.

Prof. Witte, said, "The strongest effect was seen from eating dark fish such as salmon one or more times per week."

Fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in omega 3 fatty acids, which is also known as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Past studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can reduce cardiovascular disease and fatal heart attacks and can also slow the progression of atherosclerosis, a syndrome affecting arterial blood vessels, in coronary patients.

According to American Heart Association recommendations, people should eat fish, especially fatty fish at least twice a week. Every year, approximately half a million new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. It is the direct cause of over 200,000 deaths throughout the world.