CanTalk Blog

A low-fat diet with fish oil supplements eaten for four to six weeks prior to prostate removal slowed down the growth of prostate cancer cells and the number of rapidly dividing cells in human prostate cancer tissue, compared to a traditional, high-fat Western diet. Done by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the short-term study also found the cell make up in the men on the low-fat, fish oil supplement diet was different in both the healthy cells and the cancer cells in the prostate. They had increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil and decreased levels of omega-6 fatty acids from corn oil in the cell membranes, which may directly affect the biology of the cells, though further studies are needed, said Dr. William Aronson, the study's first author and a researcher with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study appeared Oct. 25, 2011 in Cancer Prevention Research