Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Fish Oil Reduces Effectiveness of Chemotherapy

Makes sense. If something protects normal cells, it might very well protect cancer cells.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110912143257.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2011) — Researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, have discovered a substance that has an adverse effect on nearly all types of chemotherapy -- making cancer cells insensitive to the treatment. Chemotherapy often loses effectiveness over time. It is often unclear how or why this happens.

[...]

The fatty acids are also found in commercially-produced fish oil supplements containing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as in some algae extracts. In the experiments conducted in mice, the tumors became insensitive to chemotherapy after administration of normal amounts of fish oil. Natural products that include fish oil are frequently used by cancer patients in addition to their regular treatment.

Professor Emile Voest, a medical oncologist at UMC Utrecht, supervised the research. "Where resistance to chemotherapy is concerned, we usually believe that changes in the cancer cells themselves have occurred. Now we show that the body itself secretes protective substances into the blood that are powerful enough to block the effect of chemotherapy. These substances can be found in some types of fish oil. Whilst waiting for the results of further research, we currently recommend that these products should not be used whilst people are undergoing chemotherapy."

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