Breast cancer prevention: Eat fish!

Fatty acids in fish reduce the risk of breast cancer, scientists have found

RIA NewsPolyunsaturated fatty acids contained in fish can reduce the risk of breast cancer, scientists from China have found, whose work is published in the British Medical Journal (Zheng et al., Intake of fish and marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and risk of breast cancer: meta-analysis of data from 21 independent prospective cohort studies – VM).

Breast cancer is the most common form of malignant tumors, accounting for approximately 23% of all cancer cases. In order to reduce the risk of this cancer by 5%, it is enough for a woman to consume one or two servings of tuna, salmon or sardines per week.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, n-3 PUFA), which include alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EHA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), are involved in brain activity, helping to regulate the functioning of blood vessels and some areas of the immune system. If the first type of acid (ALA) is most present in nuts, cereals, leafy green vegetables, then the other three are found in fatty fish.

Scientists studied data from 26 nutrition and cancer studies conducted in the USA, Europe and Asia, with a total number of participants of more than 800 thousand people. These works covered more than 20 thousand cases of breast cancer.

When fatty polyunsaturated acids were introduced into the body through the consumption of sea fish, the risk of breast cancer decreased by 14% in those who consumed a lot of such food compared to those who did not eat fish or did not eat enough.

Graph from an article in BMJ – VMAsian women have the lowest risk of developing cancer.

Probably because fish consumption in Asian countries is much higher than in European countries, the authors say.

According to scientists' calculations, a 5% reduction in risk results from the daily consumption of 0.1 grams of fatty acids contained in marine fish. This is equal to one or two servings of fish per week. At the same time, there was no such protective effect when consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids of vegetable origin. The authors note that further case studies involving humans are needed to find out the mechanisms of the protective effects of fatty acids contained in fish.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru01.07.2013