Eating oily fish 'may help block advance of prostate cancer'

A new study has found that the omega 3 fatty acids found in oily fish like salmon and mackeral could cut the spread of prostate cancer by hampering the ability of prostate cells to metastasize:

The scientists said that the fats appeared to combat the effect of omega 6, found in nuts and seeds, which increased the spread of cells.

Prostate cancer is at its most dangerous when tumour cells from the prostate gland migrate and invade other parts of the body, such as the bone marrow.

The latest study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, suggests that increasing omega 3 in the diet protects men from developing this more aggressive form of disease.

Of course the usual disclaimers apply here, such as the need to maintain a healthy balance of these two types of fat (omega 3 and omega 6) and that readers should be aware that the experiments were only carried out in the laboratory, indicating a need for large population studies before actual conclusions can be drawn.