Tuesday Aug 9, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- David P. Rose, M.D., Ph.D. and Jeanne M. Connolly of American Health Foundation in Valhalla, New York conducted a study in 1993 and found that high intake of omega 3 fatty acids may suppress the growth and metastases of human breast cancer.

For the study, mice were fed a diet with 23% corn oil which has high amounts of omega 6 fatty acids for seven days. And then human breast cells were transferred into mice and the animals were fed the high corn oil diet for another seven days.  Then mice were fed three diets with different amounts of omega 3 fatty acids of menhaden fish oil, 

diet 1: 18% corn oil and 5% menhaden oil, 

diet 2: 11.5% corn oil and 11.5% menhaden oil, and 

diet 3: 5% corn oil and 18% menhaden oil

for 12 weeks.

It was observed that the cancer growth rates in mice fed diet 1 were significantly greater than those in mice fed other two diets with high amounts of fish oil.  The incidence of lung metastases was greater in mice fed diet 1 and diet 2 than diet 3, meaning that eating a diet with high corn oil (omega 6 fatty acids) promotes cancer metastases.  Also the extent of metastases was greater in mice fed diet 1 than diet 3.

This study suggests that eating high amounts of omega 3 fatty acids may help suppress the growth and metastases of breast cancer. Also it suggests that eating high amounts of omega 6 fatty acids may promote the growth of cancer.

A case report released in 2005 shows that a man who took high amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a type of omega 3 fatty acid, daily cured his lung cancer within six months.  The gentleman also avoided using cooking oils with high amounts of omega 6 fatty acids such as soybean oil and corn oil.

It should be noted that it is not just fish oil with high omega 3 aftty acids that is good at fighting breast cancer.   A diet known as Budwig diet which uses high amounts of flaxseed oil can also be effective at treating many types of cancers including breast cancer.  Flaxseed oil contains omega 3 fatty acids which are not exactly the same as those found in fish oil or marine algae.  (David Liu)

David P. Rose and Jeanne M. Connolly, Effects of Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Human Breast Cancer Growth and Metastases in Nude Mice, JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (1993) 85 (21): 1743-1747. doi: 10.1093/jnci/85.21.1743