For many, many people, chemotherapy is a necessary evil. It is what they and their doctors decide is the best chance for survival, the best method to eradicate the tumor.
For many, many people, chemotherapy is a necessary evil. It is what they and their doctors decide is the best chance for survival, the best method to eradicate the tumor. Well, if a new study has anything to say about it, maybe doctors’ advice going forward will include taking fish oil to offset some of chemotherapy’s effects.
One of the most powerful alternative remedies is fish oil, very high in omega-3 fatty acids. A new study has found that supplementing the diet with fish oil may prevent the muscle and weight loss that commonly occurs in cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. Published in “Cancer,” the study indicates that fish oil may help combat cancer-related malnutrition.
Chemotherapy can cause cancer patients to lose muscle mass and become malnourished, leading to fatigue, a decreased quality of life, an inability to receive necessary treatments, and a shorter survival period.
The thought was that adding fish oil to the diet could help patients maintain or gain muscle. To test the idea, researchers compared the effects of fish oil with those of standard care (no intervention) on weight, muscle, and fat tissue in newly referred non-small cell lung cancer patients.
It was a small study, with 16 patients taking 2.2 grams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) fish oil each day, and 24 patients who did not. EPA is a type of omega-3 fatty acid. The study lasted about 10 weeks, until the initial chemotherapy was done. Researchers found that patients who didn’t take fish oil lost an average of 2.3 kilograms of body weight. Those taking fish oil, on the other hand, maintained their weight.
Patients with the greatest increase in EPA concentration in the blood had the most muscle mass gain. In the fish oil group, 69% of patients gained or maintained muscle mass. For comparison, only 29% of patients in the typical care group maintained muscle mass. Overall, those patients lost one kilogram of muscle.
Thus, it seems that one good way to keep your body strong and a healthy weight while undergoing chemo is to take the alternative remedy fish oil. Make sure it contains EPA. The study finished by saying that two grams of fish oil a day will better allow patients to maintain their weight and muscle mass during chemotherapy.
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