DO FISH OIL SUPPLEMENTS CAUSE PROSTATE CANCER? – NOT ACCORDING TO THE EVIDENCE!

The latest news has probably alarmed men around the world who take fish oil supplements BUT the research actually found that almost all of the men (in the trial) that developed prostate cancer did NOT take fish oil supplements!!

This is an extract from the study:

“The study measured omega-3 blood levels in the participating men, and did not include information on the volunteers’ eating habits, so researchers could not differentiate between the effects of fatty acids from fish from those of supplements. However, the overwhelming majority of the participants did not take fish oil supplements”.

Therefore, if they were not taking supplements one would assume that the men who developed prostate cancer were ‘eating’ a lot more fish (seeing as they had higher levels of omega-3 in their blood) and given that most fish these days contain high levels of dangerous heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead, etc (which are known to be carcinogenic) – these findings are really no surprise.

This is the reason I’ve told my clients for many years not to eat large fish and not to take ‘cheap’ fish oil supplements as they don’t usually go through an expensive purification process that removes the toxic metals (like the ones that I prescribe).

Interestingly, if you look into the study the researchers say this:

“It’s important to note, however, that these results do not address the question of whether omega-3’s play a detrimental role in prostate cancer prognosis.”

Hmm, so let’s look at the facts….Hardly any of the study participants took fish oil supplements and the researchers conclude that they don’t ‘know’ if omega 3’s are responsible for an increase in prostate cancer risk or not – So why did most of the news channels and other media not state this? Why did they falsely claim that ‘fish oil supplements’ cause prostate cancer?

This is despite the researchers stating that their study ‘wasn’t’ conclusive and that it does ‘not’ confirm that eating more fish (having more omega 3’s) causes prostate cancer at all.

In fact, who’s to say that men with prostate cancer don’t have a genetic defect that prevents the metabolism of omega 3’s (hence the high blood levels) or that the prostate cancer itself isn’t producing elevated amounts of omega 3’s or some other metabolic reaction that’s occurring in the body (that hasn’t been identified yet) as the researchers admit they don’t ‘know’ what the association is.

However, as I said, I suspect the toxic heavy metals (inside the fish) might be the cause as they have been proven to increase the risks of prostate cancer development, particularly lead and mercury which many fish are high in  http://www.flcv.com/cancerhg.html   which is why the Victorian government warn people not to eat fish with high mercury levels http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Fish (which is common sense).

Interestingly, Theodore Brasky, the head researcher of this latest clinical trial on prostate cancer and omega 3’s noted that “…some studies have suggested fish oil might be beneficial in men who already have cancer”.

Other research trials have shown that fish oil ‘prevents’ prostate cancer including this first study that involved over 47,000 participants (which was ‘much’ larger than the study being reported in the media):

1. Augustsson, Katarina; Michaud, Dominique S.; Rimm, Eric B.; Leitzmann, Michael F.; Stampfer, Meir J.; Willett, Walter C.; Giovannucci, Edward (2003). “A Prospective Study of Intake of Fish and Marine Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer”. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 12 (1): 64–7. PMID 12540506.
2. ^ Berquin, Isabelle M.; Min, Younong; Wu, Ruping; Wu, Jiansheng; Perry, Donna; Cline, J. Mark; Thomas, Mike J.; Thornburg, Todd et al. (2007). “Modulation of prostate cancer genetic risk by omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids”. Journal of Clinical Investigation 117 (7): 1866–75. doi:10.1172/JCI31494. PMC 1890998. PMID 17607361.

Omega 3 fatty acid supplements are one of the most widely researched nutrient supplements in the world and, as seen above, clinical trials have shown that they are actually capable of ‘preventing’ prostate cancer – not causing cancer – and research has also shown that fish oil supplements can increase cardiovascular health (which is why many cardiologists now recommend them), improve cognitive (brain) function (which is why many doctors that specialise in children’s behavioural problems and autism recommend them), reduce joint pain, help mild depression, and the list goes on.

So, in the future when you see a study on any natural medicines that ‘supposedly’ have negative effects, do a little digging around the internet and you don’t normally have to dig very far to see the cracks…..when you find that there is NO basis to what the media are reporting on, it’s probably just another piece of propaganda against the natural health field.

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