[We've posted similar items several times over the past year. Fish
oil has demonstrated positive effects in cachexia in a number of
different studies.]

Fish Oil Helps Some Cancer Patients with Wasting

Fri Aug 6,12:44 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Loss of weight and muscle mass,
common
among people with cancer, may be improved with fish oil
supplements,
according to a new report.

Intestinal upsets make high-dose fish oil capsules
difficult for
many people with cancer-related wasting to tolerate, but
those who
are able to take the supplements regularly may be able to
stabilize
their weight or even gain pounds, according to Dr. C.
Patrick Burns
of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in
Iowa City
and colleagues.


Animal studies and some clinical investigations have
suggested omega-
3 fatty acids found in fish oils may protect against
cachexia, as
weight loss related to a chronic disease is called. There
are three
mechanisms by which omega-3s may have this effect, Burns
noted in an
interview with Reuters Health.


Omega-3s inhibit secretion of inflammatory compounds.
Tumors may
promote cachexia by releasing factors that stimulate
production of
these substances, he explained, so the fatty acids would
block this
process. Also, he added, omega-3 fatty acids may slow
protein
degradation and fat breakdown.


In the current study, in the medical journal Cancer, 43
patients
with moderate to severe malnutrition were prescribed high
doses of
omega-3 fatty acid supplements. The dose depended the
individual's
weight. For example, a person weighing 70 kilograms (about
150
pounds) would take eleven 1-gram capsules per day.


The capsules were divided into two doses, taken with
breakfast and
lunch. The researchers began the study with twice the
dosage, but
reduced it because many patients were unwilling or unable
to take so
many capsules.


Among the 36 participants who took at least some capsules,
six were
able to gain more than 5 percent of their body weight or
achieve
their normal weight. Twenty-four other patients stabilized
their
weight, meaning they gained or lost no more than 5 percent.
Six
other patients lost more than 5 percent of their body
weight.


Side effects were common, and included nausea, vomiting and
diarrhea, and the size of the capsules made them difficult
for some
patients to take.


Nineteen patients stopped treatment early due to side
effects, but
some other participants tolerated the regimen with few
problems, the
researchers note.


"It did not seem that gender, age, or ethnicity predicted
intolerance, but the study was not powered to test that
question,"
Burns told Reuters Health.


Future studies of fish oil for cachexia that begin when
patients are
less severely ill, and last for longer than 30 days, may
have more
positive results, the researchers conclude.


SOURCE: Cancer, July 15, 2004.