Long chain omega 3 fatty acids help fight bowel cancer

By Jimmy Downs

Long chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and seafood may help prevent colorectal cancer, according to a study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Dec. 6-9, 2009, in Houston.

The study results show benefits of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in colorectal carcinogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis by suppressing angiogenesis.

Sangmi Kim, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, N.C. and colleagues found an inverse association between dietary intakes of long chain omega-fatty acids and distal large bowel cancer in white people.

The researchers surveyed 1,509 white participants, 716 with colorectal cancer 787 without and 369 black participants, 213 with the bowel cancer and 156 without the disease for their intakes of omega-3 fatty acids in the past 12 months.

Participants who consumed more long chain omega-3 fatty acids were at reduced risk of distal large bowel cancer. Those who had their omega 3 fat in the highest quartile were at a 39 percent reduced risk of colorectal cancer.

The association between intakes of long chain omega-fatty acids and reduced risk of bowel cancer was found only among the whites, but not among the blacks.