Fish oils and breast cancer

Dietary fat is a hugely misunderstood thing. You need fats for proper functioning of your body cells. The key with fat is that you need the right sort of fat and among the undeniably good fats are omega-3 fatty acids. On top of a whole range of health benefits a new study has shown that omega-3 fats from fish can help prevent breast cancer.

Omega-3 fats include include alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). ALA comes from plants while EPA and DHA come from marine sources such as fish oils and krill oil. A raft of studies have supported their health-promoting properties as omega-3 fats have been shown to reduce risk of conditions like heart disease and diabetes, support eye health, support brain function, and ease conditions like arthritis. Now the evidence is strong that they can also reduce risk of cancer and specifically in this new study, breast cancer.

In the new study the researchers analysed the results of 26 different studies on breast cancer and omega-3 oils. This involved data on approximately 800,000 participants and more than 20,000 cases of breast cancer. Comparing the lowest and highest category of marine omega-3 intake, the investigators identified that high marine omega-3 intake was associated with a 14 per cent reduced risk of breast cancer. Additionally, for every 100mg per day increase in the consumption of omega-3 from fish, the risk of breast cancer decreased by five per cent. However, the plant based omega-3 ALA did not seem to have anti-cancer properties.

This doesn’t mean that ALA has no health benefits, just that it did not appear to have the anti-breast cancer effect of marine sources of omega-3.

Given the safe and widely beneficial nature of omega-3 oils, as well as the generally healthy nature of the foods in which they are found, getting more omega-3 into your body can only be a good thing.