One thing prevents cancer and prevents muscle wasting from chemo....
Today's Post: Friday, 3-4-2011
Last Monday, 2-28, HealthDay News had this story, “Fish Oil Seems to Help Cancer Patients Preserve Muscle.”
The study done at the University of Alberta in Canada was quite small. But the results were quite definite.
It was in the Feb. 28 online edition of the journal Cancer.
Over the 10 weeks of the study while both groups got chemo for lung cancer, one group got 2.2 grams a day of the omega 3 oil, EPA, from purified fish oil while the other group did not.
The group who got the omega 3 supplements lost no weight and kept their muscle tissue mostly intact. The group that did not lost about 5 pounds during the 10 weeks, most of which was muscle tissue.
Lona Sandon, registered dietitian and assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas in Dallas, was quoted as saying this in the HealthDay article,
"Malnutrition is a big concern with cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation,"
"Because first of all they do have wasting from the cancer itself, which is very metabolically active and eats up your energy stores. And then with chemotherapy, there is some inflammation that's detrimental to the heart and muscle, as it can cause muscle breakdown. And preservation of lean muscle tissue, we know, leads to better outcomes."
This actually understates the potential importance of this study for three reasons.
1. People with more weight loss and muscle wasting are more likely to die while those who do not have any are far more likely to survive.
So preventing wasting and weight loss from it is not just a better outcome, it’s very significant better outcome!
2. Such levels of omega 3 intake and inflammation lowering also have been found to help prevent cancer.
That means that there is an excellent chance that the cancer the chemo is killing is less likely to return when this is done.
(See the book, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition by David Servan-Schreiber (Dec 31, 2009) which is now available on Amazon.com for more information.)
3. But there is still more! Dr Servan-Schreiber and others have shown that when you also cut way down on the excess omega 6 oils most people eat currently and take curcumin supplements or eat curried foods that contain the turmeric that has curcumin in it, you both dramatically cut down on excess inflammation, and you prevent cancer.
(Here are some key ways to do that. Make a strong special effort to NOT eat meat from grain fed animals since they are mostly fed corn which is very high in omega 6 or eat it much less often and only the leanest most fat trimmed versions. Virtually stop eating foods made with refined grains and eat more vegetables instead since the grains are high in omega 6. And instead of the oils high in omega 6 such as corn, soy, saffola, and canola, use extra virgin olive oil which is not.)
But you do more than that. Cutting excess inflammation also prevents heart disease. There is even evidence you prevent Alzheimer’s disease by doing so. Other studies have found you tend to prevent or reverse depression by doing so.
And, there is still more you can do. Earlier in the week, we did a post on the research showing that taking 4,000 iu to 8,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 tends to prevent cancer, Separate studies have found it also helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
The last point I’ll make is that the study found that the people with the highest blood levels of omega 3 lost the least muscle tissue.
Other studies have found that eating fish two or three times a week that are high in omega 3 oils often produces blood levels of omega 3 higher than taking supplements. In addition, fish is high in protein which may also help in maintaining muscle mass.
And, of course you can take omega 3 supplements AND eat fish two or three times a week.
Note that farmed fish is not safe to eat due to high levels of pollutants and has much less omega 3 and more omega 6 since it is also fed grain!
The good news is that canned sardines are inexpensive, quite high in omega 3, and are wild caught fish. (Not everyone can deal with their strong smell. But sardines are a superfood otherwise.)
Also, canned Alaskan salmon is all wild caught. It’s also relatively inexpensive.
Today's Post: Friday, 3-4-2011
Last Monday, 2-28, HealthDay News had this story, “Fish Oil Seems to Help Cancer Patients Preserve Muscle.”
The study done at the University of Alberta in Canada was quite small. But the results were quite definite.
It was in the Feb. 28 online edition of the journal Cancer.
Over the 10 weeks of the study while both groups got chemo for lung cancer, one group got 2.2 grams a day of the omega 3 oil, EPA, from purified fish oil while the other group did not.
The group who got the omega 3 supplements lost no weight and kept their muscle tissue mostly intact. The group that did not lost about 5 pounds during the 10 weeks, most of which was muscle tissue.
Lona Sandon, registered dietitian and assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas in Dallas, was quoted as saying this in the HealthDay article,
"Malnutrition is a big concern with cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation,"
"Because first of all they do have wasting from the cancer itself, which is very metabolically active and eats up your energy stores. And then with chemotherapy, there is some inflammation that's detrimental to the heart and muscle, as it can cause muscle breakdown. And preservation of lean muscle tissue, we know, leads to better outcomes."
This actually understates the potential importance of this study for three reasons.
1. People with more weight loss and muscle wasting are more likely to die while those who do not have any are far more likely to survive.
So preventing wasting and weight loss from it is not just a better outcome, it’s very significant better outcome!
2. Such levels of omega 3 intake and inflammation lowering also have been found to help prevent cancer.
That means that there is an excellent chance that the cancer the chemo is killing is less likely to return when this is done.
(See the book, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition by David Servan-Schreiber (Dec 31, 2009) which is now available on Amazon.com for more information.)
3. But there is still more! Dr Servan-Schreiber and others have shown that when you also cut way down on the excess omega 6 oils most people eat currently and take curcumin supplements or eat curried foods that contain the turmeric that has curcumin in it, you both dramatically cut down on excess inflammation, and you prevent cancer.
(Here are some key ways to do that. Make a strong special effort to NOT eat meat from grain fed animals since they are mostly fed corn which is very high in omega 6 or eat it much less often and only the leanest most fat trimmed versions. Virtually stop eating foods made with refined grains and eat more vegetables instead since the grains are high in omega 6. And instead of the oils high in omega 6 such as corn, soy, saffola, and canola, use extra virgin olive oil which is not.)
But you do more than that. Cutting excess inflammation also prevents heart disease. There is even evidence you prevent Alzheimer’s disease by doing so. Other studies have found you tend to prevent or reverse depression by doing so.
And, there is still more you can do. Earlier in the week, we did a post on the research showing that taking 4,000 iu to 8,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 tends to prevent cancer, Separate studies have found it also helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
The last point I’ll make is that the study found that the people with the highest blood levels of omega 3 lost the least muscle tissue.
Other studies have found that eating fish two or three times a week that are high in omega 3 oils often produces blood levels of omega 3 higher than taking supplements. In addition, fish is high in protein which may also help in maintaining muscle mass.
And, of course you can take omega 3 supplements AND eat fish two or three times a week.
Note that farmed fish is not safe to eat due to high levels of pollutants and has much less omega 3 and more omega 6 since it is also fed grain!
The good news is that canned sardines are inexpensive, quite high in omega 3, and are wild caught fish. (Not everyone can deal with their strong smell. But sardines are a superfood otherwise.)
Also, canned Alaskan salmon is all wild caught. It’s also relatively inexpensive.
Labels: new benefit found for omega 3 oils, prevent cancer, prevent dying from cancer or its treatment, prevent muscle wasting and weight loss from chemo
posted by David at 2:27 PM
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