Omega 6 Fat Raises Prostate Cancer Risk; Omega-3 Fats Cut It

Sunday Jan 17, 2010 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study conducted in Nigeria and published in the fall 2009 issue of Ethnicity & Disease suggests that a high intake of omega-6 fat and/or fatty acids may raise the risk of prostate cancer; conversely, a high intake of omega-3 fat may in fact cut the risk.
 
F. A. Ukoli and colleagues from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee found men with high serum levels of omega-6 fat were at an elevated risk of prostate cancer while men with high serum levels of omega-3 fatty acids were at a lower risk.
 
For the study, the researchers examined personal information on urological symptom history, anthropometrics, digital rectal examination and fatty acids in the blood samples collected from men aged 40 or older who were admitted to surgery/urology clinics at University of Benin Teaching Hospital.
 
Men whose total omega-6 fatty acids fell into the third quartile were at 133 percent increased risk of prostate cancer compared to those with total omega 6 fatty acids, which fell into the first quartile, Ukoli et al. found.
 
Those with serum behenic and nervonic acids in the highest quartile were at 179 percent and 120 percent increased risk of prostate cancer respectively while those with their erucic and arachidonic acids in the second quartile were at 320 percent and 281 percent increased risk, respectively compared to those in the first quartile.
 
The researchers also found that those with omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosapentaenoic (DPA) in the second quartile were 61 percent and 21 percent less likely to have prostate cancer respectively compared to those in the first quartile.
 
Prostate cancer is diagnosed in about 200,000 men each year in the United States; the disease and its complications kill about 30,000 annually in the country, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Prostate cancer symptoms include urinary problems, such as not being able to pass urine, needing to urinate often, pain or burning sensation during urination, difficulty having an erection, bloody urine or semen, frequent pain in the lower back, hips or upper thighs.
 
Prostate cancer in most cases grows very slow.  Most patients are told to take the watch-and-see approach.  Treatments for the disease include surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy.

Reporting by Jimmy Downs and editing by Rachel Stockton