A study by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada has tested the effects of fish oil on cancer patients. Specifically, the fish oil was used to maintain healthy body weight during preparation, treatment and recovery from cancer treatments.
Cancer patients consistently struggle to keep up healthy body mass. Not only does the disease fight against patients’ natural support systems, but the strong chemotherapy drugs used against the cancer also tax the patients’ resources. Surgery and other procedures weaken the patient even further, minimizing the natural abilities to fight the disease and handle the treatments. Healing and recovery happens faster in healthy patients, and cancerous tissues respond better to chemotherapy in a healthy body.
Mesothelioma patients are one group that would greatly benefit from healthier body weight during treatment. Mesothelioma is a rare respiratory cancer that takes years to develop. By the time it has been diagnosed patients immune systems and regular functions have been greatly taxed. Loss of body mass furthers the weakness and can hinder potentially good responses to treatment.
Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos fibers which can be inhaled or ingested after becoming airborne. These fibers are found in countless materials and components used across the world in industries such as construction, fuel refining, shipbuilding and munitions manufacturing. Although asbestos is relatively safe when it is contained, if it becomes disturbed and dust and fibers escape, there is a great potential health threat.
The University of Alberta study based its approach on the fact that a healthy diet and overall good patient health was a heavy indicator of treatment response and disease control. Keeping up patients body weight could potentially help save lives.
The study included forty patients diagnosed with non small-cell lung cancer. Sixteen of these were given fish oil while twenty-four comprised the control group. A daily does of 2.2 grams of fish oil was given to those sixteen patients to aid in maintaining “weight and muscle mass during chemotherapy.”
Results showed that sixty-nine percent of patients receiving daily fish oil gained or maintained muscle mass, while only twenty-nine percent of those not receiving fish oil did the same.
Patient health is vital for all cancer patients before, during and after treatments. Mesothelioma patients are often diagnosed later in life as the disease is characterized by a latency period of twenty to fifty years. Mesothelioma treatments usually include several rounds of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy—a lot for a patient to endure. The fish oil study may be the beginning of new treatment preparation for the thousands of Americans fighting mesothelioma each year.
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