Omega-3 fatty acids may benefit cancer patients undergoing major ...(ients given the standard supplement with...),Health

Date:4/10/2009

ients given the standard supplement without omega 3 lost a significant amount of weight comprising 100% muscle mass. In fact 68% of patients suffered 'clinically severe' weight loss post surgery in the standard group (without omega 3) versus only 8% in the omega 3 group. The significant finding was that the patients did not lose just fat, as one would expect with weight loss, but instead they depleted their muscle stores significantly. Research has shown that a loss of 5lbs of weight produces significant effects on quality of life and a patient's ability to mobilise and perform simple activities of daily living. Losing 4 lbs of muscle is even more significant".

Professor John Reynolds said: "Omega 3 enriched nutrition appears to prevent loss of muscle mass by reducing the amount of inflammatory markers in the blood this means the metabolism is not as stressed as it usually is post surgery. We also saw that the omega 3 group was less likely to have a fever in the first week post surgery which points to the ability of omega 3 to suppress inflammation. Looking at their blood tests omega 3 fed patients had much lower 'inflammatory compounds' circulating in their blood which points to the ability of omega 3 to reduce inflammation".

Using specialised nutritional feeds with a highly purified form of EPA, the researchers were able to administer a dose of omega 3 that was much higher than that typically found in food. They noted that treatment with omega 3 enriched supplement is only slightly more expensive than traditional nutritional therapy, and previous studies have yielded significant cost-savings in the form of fewer complications following surgery using immuno-nutrition feeds similar to this. "Initial treatments like this may be cost-effective for our cash-strapped health care system", said Dr Ryan.

Commenting in an accompanying editorial in the Annals of Surgery Dr Michael Meguid, Professor of Surgery at State University of New York
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Contact: Caoimhe Ni Lochlainn communications@tcd.ie 353-189-62310 Trinity College Dublin Source:Eurekalert

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