Omega 3 fatty acids, in the form of fish oil, have been found to prevent muscle and weight loss in individuals who are undergoing chemotherapy. A study published in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, has shown fish oil to assist in preventing malnutrition often associated with cancer treatments. Patients undergoing chemotherapy often lose muscle mass, and suffer from malnutrition brought on by adverse reactions from the chemotherapy drugs. This can lead to fatigue, serious quality of life issues, and in some cases, lead to a shorter life expectancy as some severely weakened individuals may not be subsequent candidates for radiation treatment due to their condition.

Trial studies suggested that supplementing patients diets with fish oil could help patients maintain weight during treatments, but larger clinical studies had proven inconclusive. More recently, researchers supplemented a number of patients with 2.2 grams of fish oil per day, against a control group with no fish oil supplementation. Muscle and other tissues were measured periodically throughout the treatments, which lasted 10 weeks. They found that those patients who took fish oil maintained their weight, while the control group lost an average of 2.3 kilograms (5.1 pounds) over the same period of time.

“Fish oil may prevent loss of weight and muscle by interfering with some of the pathways that are altered in advanced cancer,” said Dr. Vera Mazurak, PhD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton. As fish oil is an entirely safe substance, it does not interfere with treatment, and may be beneficial for many forms of cancer treatment, and individuals such as the elderly, who are also at risk for muscle loss.

For cancer patients, the researchers concluded that omega 3 fatty acids, particularly fish oil, provide a benefit over standard care. “This holds great promise because currently there is no effective treatment for cancer-related malnutrition,” Dr. Mazurak added.

Source:
Murphy, R. A., Mourtzakis, M., Chu, Q. S. C., Baracos, V. E., Reiman, T. and Mazurak, V. C. , Supplementation with fish oil increases first-line chemotherapy efficacy in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer. Cancer, n/a. doi: 10.1002/cncr.25933