Cancer
High levels of fatty acids in the body can dampen the aggressiveness with which prostate cancer attacks, new research suggests. Specialists at the University of Illinois studied the effect that different polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had on prostate cancer risk.
Researchers tested 196 tissue samples collected during prostatectomy and gave them all individual PUFA exposures. The researchers found that the samples in which the cancer was most advanced had significantly lower levels of PUFA than those samples in which the cancer was not so widespread.
Other fatty acids, such as omega 3, were also found to possess a number of different mechanisms to prevent cancer growth. While omega 6 acids can work through the immune system pathways to fuel the spread of cancer, omega 3 can block these pathways, barring their use by bad fats and consequently slowing the speed of the cancer's progression. The researchers stressed however, that the results remained very mixed and more work still needed to be done.
"What this research suggests is that there is a plausible link between the types of fat consumed after the cancer has already developed and the extent of the disease at the time the cancer is diagnosed and treated," said lead researcher, Dr Vincent Freeman. "Much technical work remains to be done before this can become a feasible and effective preventative strategy," he added.
