Breast cancer: higher average survival due to Omega 3 DHA

Breast cancer patients (with metastases) who take Omega 3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) during chemotherapy can increase their median survival by 8 months. This was demonstrated in a second phase clinical trial coordinated by Philippe Bougnoux of the Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U921 in Tours, France. Based on their findings, published in the British Journal of Cancer, the study authors concluded that a daily dose of DHA of 1.8 grams produces no side effects. This would be a new step forward taken in cancer research as well as another piece confirming the benefits of Omega-3s on certain types of cancers.

Omega-3 and sensitivity to chemotherapy

The development of metastasis makes breast cancer a lethal disease. For this reason, cancer treatments given at this stage are aimed at decreasing symptoms and pushing away the time of death without being further toxic to the patient. DHA, a food-derived omega-3, may be useful for this purpose. In fact, French researchers explain that enriching the membranes of cancer cells with this fatty acid makes them more sensitive to chemotherapy.

The study

Bougnoux and his staff involved 25 breast cancer patients po test the effect of DHA administration on theeffectiveness of chemotherapy. During this clinical trial, the women were treated with anthracycline (a chemotherapy drug) and took 1.8 grams per day of DHA. The patients who participated in the trial had a particularly poor prognosis, linked in 68% of cases to metastasis to the liver and other tissues. Treatment lasted from 2 to 6 months, and each patient was followed for an average of 31 months. Analysis of the data collected during this period showed thattaking DHA had resulted in an average survival of 22 months.

For the authors, this result is encouraging. In fact, in the absence of DHA treatment, the average survival of patients with breast metastases was about 14 months. Not only that, the addition of Omega-3 to anthracycline treatment was not associated with any side effects.

Help from Omega-3s

According to the study authors, their results showed for the first time that a nutritional intervention focusing on DHA is a plausible approach to increase the survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. The efficacy of this omega-3 could be based on its sensitizing action precisely against chemotherapy. The usefulness of this approach may be confirmed by more advanced clinical trials.  

Source 

1. Bougnoux P, Hajjaji N, Ferrasson MN, Giraudeau B, Couet C, Le Floch O, "Improving outcome of chemotherapy of metastatic breast cancer by docosahexaenoic acid: a phase II trial," Br J Cancer. 2009 Dec 15;101(12):1978-85. Epub 2009 Nov 17