Fish oil helps cancer patients preserve muscle
Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy may be able to avoid the accompanying muscle loss and malnutrition by taking fish oil supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids.
Malnutrition among cancer patients is a big concern as the disease itself leads to wasting while chemotherapy adds to it by causing patients to lose muscle mass. This malnutrition leads to fatigue, a decreased quality of life, an inability to receive necessary treatments, and shorter survival.
To explore the therapeutic potential of fish oil supplements, the researchers offered 16 cancer patients undergoing an initial 10 weeks chemotherapy regimen in Canada a daily dose of 2.2 grams of a particular omega-3 fatty acid called eicosapentaenoic (EPA). While these patients took fish oil supplements throughout their chemotherapy treatment, a second group of 24 patients underwent the same regimen minus the fish oil. All patients in the study were suffering from lung cancer. Muscle and fat were periodically measured using computed tomography images. Blood was collected and weight was recorded at the start of the study and throughout chemotherapy.
Patients who did not take fish oil lost an average of 2.3 kilograms whereas patients receiving fish oil maintained their weight. Blood analyses also revealed that those in the fish oil group who had the biggest bump in bloodstream EPA concentrations also had the greatest muscle mass gains. Specifically, nearly 70 percent of those in the fish oil group either kept their pre-chemo muscle mass or gained muscle. By comparison, less than 30 percent in the non-supplement group kept their original muscle mass, and overall, patients in this group lost 1 kilogram of muscle. Total fat tissue measurements were unaffected by fish oil supplementation and no side effects were observed.
Fish oil may prevent loss of weight and muscle by interfering with some of the pathways that are altered in advanced cancer. This holds great promise, because currently there is no effective treatment for cancer-related malnutrition. The researchers concluded that fish oil supplementation appears to be a safe and effective way to prevent malnutrition among cancer patients and patients with chronic diseases, and may ultimately prove to be of benefit for other groups of people, such as elderly patients who are at risk for muscle loss.
Malnutrition among cancer patients is a big concern as the disease itself leads to wasting while chemotherapy adds to it by causing patients to lose muscle mass. This malnutrition leads to fatigue, a decreased quality of life, an inability to receive necessary treatments, and shorter survival.
To explore the therapeutic potential of fish oil supplements, the researchers offered 16 cancer patients undergoing an initial 10 weeks chemotherapy regimen in Canada a daily dose of 2.2 grams of a particular omega-3 fatty acid called eicosapentaenoic (EPA). While these patients took fish oil supplements throughout their chemotherapy treatment, a second group of 24 patients underwent the same regimen minus the fish oil. All patients in the study were suffering from lung cancer. Muscle and fat were periodically measured using computed tomography images. Blood was collected and weight was recorded at the start of the study and throughout chemotherapy.
Patients who did not take fish oil lost an average of 2.3 kilograms whereas patients receiving fish oil maintained their weight. Blood analyses also revealed that those in the fish oil group who had the biggest bump in bloodstream EPA concentrations also had the greatest muscle mass gains. Specifically, nearly 70 percent of those in the fish oil group either kept their pre-chemo muscle mass or gained muscle. By comparison, less than 30 percent in the non-supplement group kept their original muscle mass, and overall, patients in this group lost 1 kilogram of muscle. Total fat tissue measurements were unaffected by fish oil supplementation and no side effects were observed.
Fish oil may prevent loss of weight and muscle by interfering with some of the pathways that are altered in advanced cancer. This holds great promise, because currently there is no effective treatment for cancer-related malnutrition. The researchers concluded that fish oil supplementation appears to be a safe and effective way to prevent malnutrition among cancer patients and patients with chronic diseases, and may ultimately prove to be of benefit for other groups of people, such as elderly patients who are at risk for muscle loss.
Labels: Cancer Patients, Fish, helps, oil, preserve muscle
posted by G S Iyer at 7:09 AM
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