Did you know that colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death in men and women? In 2003, around 146,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and of those, around 56,000 died.
Luckily the rates have been steadily decreasing for the last two decades and it may be that heightened public awareness of a healthy diet and lifestyle could be the reason.
Have you seen the commercials on television about how great Omega 3 is for your health? Well, it's not just a fad, Omega 3 is really important. According to the American Association for Cancer Research, Omega 3, a biologically active component of fish oil called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA, may prevent and even act as a treatment for colon cancer.
Previous pre-clinical trials have shown that Omega 3 consumption can reduce the risk of getting colon cancer by 70 percent. In another experiment, one group of animals were fed 20 percent of different types of fat in a typical American diet and another group of animals were fed a diet rich in fish oil and those who were fed fish oil developed 80 percent less tumors than those on the fatty diet. Even with just a brief exposure to a fish oil diet, there was a significant reduction in pre-cursor lesions of colon cancer.
Less Drugs, Less Side-Effects:
In human patients, taking Omega 3 oils meant that they needed less drugs and had less side-effects.
C.V. Rao, Ph.D., Associate Chief, Division of Nutritional Carcinogenesis, Institute For Cancer Prevention, New York, said, "Any medications taken at high doses may be accompanied by negative side effects, which may make them undesirable for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Therefore, we were pleased to see in our study that the combination treatment of COX-2 and fish oil component (DHA) was effective at tolerable doses." In other words, taking Omega 3 meant the patient needed less cancer suppressing drugs.
You can get your Omega 3 from:
-Fish, particularly the oily kinds of fish
-Fish oil capsules
-Seaweed
-Walnuts
-Rapeseed
-Flaxseed
-Linseed
-Hemp seeds
Omega 3 is most easily accessible for the body when it comes from fish, but if you're vegetarian, don't worry, it can to an extent be taken from seedweed, nuts and seeds and it is available in synthetic form in some brands of vegetarian margarines, and in tablet form.
Those purchasing fish should not get the wild sea variety as they generally have a high mercury content due to environmental pollution and this has its own health effects. Organically farmed is probably the most health conscious choice.
Sources: Novel COX-2 Combination Treatment May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk Combination Regimen of COX-2 Inhibitor and Fish Oil Causes Cell Death, American Association for Cancer Research, Press Release, April 2003.
Joanna is a freelance health writer for The Mother magazine and Suite 101 with a column on infertility, http://infertility.suite101.com/. She is author of the book, 'Breast Milk: A Natural Immunisation,' and co-author of an educational resource on disabled parenting, in addition to running a charity for people damaged by vaccines or medical mistakes.