Chemotherapy: effects on the body are better with Omega 3s

Fish oil, a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, helps counteract weight loss and improves therapeutic efficacy during chemotherapy. Specifically, it iseicosapentaenoic fatty acid (EPA) that helps cancer sufferers prevent both muscle mass loss and fat loss. This is the finding of a study coordinated by Vera Mazurak of the University of Alberta (Canada), published in the journal "Cancer "*.

Side effects of chemotherapy

Weight loss is a very common occurrence in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Finding a remedy for the state of malnutrition that causes this wasting is essential to counteract the sense of fatigue and decreased quality of life that accompany treatment and prevent the patient from undergoing further treatment, resulting in decreased life expectancy. The study by Muzarak and colleagues, showing that the decline in muscle mass and fat tissue can be counteracted by taking 2.2 grams per day of EPA, offers a solution to this situation. Specifically, the research involved 40 patients, 16 of whom supplemented their diets daily with EPA-containing fish oil for the duration of the chemotherapy cycle, for a total of about 10 weeks of treatment. The remaining 24 patients, on the other hand, received only conventional treatment. 

During chemotherapy, researchers monitored the health of muscle mass using computed tomography, a technique that allows precise quantification of skeletal muscle. The results showed that although in the 6 months prior to the start of the trial, patients taking Omega-3 reported an average weight loss of 6.3 percent, fish oil supplementation helped them maintain their weight. Moreover, about 70 percent of those who combined chemotherapy with EPA intake kept their muscle mass intact or, even increased it. And the effect is closely related to the presence of the omega-3 fatty acid, such that the higher the increase in EPA in the bloodstream, the greater the gain in muscle mass. 

In contrast, patients who did not supplement their diet with fish oil lost, on average, 2.3 kilograms over the 10 weeks of chemotherapy. Not only that, less than 30 percent of these patients managed to keep their muscle mass intact.

Omega-3 against malnutrition

Mazurak explained that these results are very promising because until now no effective treatment against cancer-associated malnutrition had been identified. And sincefish oil prevents weight loss and muscle loss by interfering with some of the metabolic pathways that are altered in advanced forms of cancer, the researchers suggestdaily supplementation of Omega-3 with fish oil containing 2 grams of EPA to enable cancer patients to maintain weight and muscle mass during chemotherapy. 

The one-year survival of the group of patients supplemented with fish oil was higher: 60 percent versus 38.7 percent for the group that did not take fish oil. The researchers concluded that fish oil improves the effectiveness of chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and can be included in first-line therapy.  

Source 

MurphyRA, Mourtzakis M, Chu QS, Baracos VE, Reiman T, Mazurak VC, "Supplementation with fish oil increases first-line chemotherapy efficacy in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer."Cancer. 2011 Aug 15;117(16):3774-80