据国外媒体8日报道，美国一项最新研究发现，鱼油有助于保护女性免受乳腺癌之苦。科学家称，那些每天补充鱼油的人，患乳腺癌的风险可降低三分之一。
长期以来人们一直认为鱼油对健康有好处，例如可提高智力，但这是第一次把它与降低乳腺癌风险联系在一起。西雅图佛瑞德哈奇森癌症研究中心对3.5万名女性进行研究，结果发现那些经常补充鱼油的人，发展成乳腺癌的风险比其他人低32%。该中心的研究人员指出，补充物里所含的欧米加-3脂肪酸，可以降低患一些最常见疾病的风险，例如浸润性导管乳腺癌。
这种肿瘤生长在与乳腺相连的导管内，英国每年被诊断出的4.5万名乳腺癌患者中，有多达80%的人患的是浸润性导管乳腺癌。这一研究成果发表在《癌症流行病生物标记与预防》杂志上，该研究的领导者艾米丽怀特博士说：“这可能是因为鱼油补充物里所含的欧米加-3，比大部分人从日常饮食中获得的这种物质更多。在研究没得到证实前，我们还不能就其因果关系下结论。”
哈佛大学公共卫生学院的营养学及流行病学教授爱德华古范奇尼索说：“仅凭一项研究就下结论，建议人们该如何做，这种情况非常少见。”哈佛大学的科学家目前正在设法确定鱼油是否能降低癌症、心脏病和中风风险。今年早些时候，加州大学旧金山分校的科学家发现鱼油对延长细胞的寿命具有直接影响后，这种物质被人们奉为“长生不老药”。英国食品标准局建议消费者每周至少吃一份含油脂多的鱼。
推荐原文出处：
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers " Prevention July 2010 19; 1696
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0318
Specialty Supplements and Breast Cancer Risk in the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) Cohort
Theodore M. Brasky1,2, Johanna W. Lampe1,2, John D. Potter1,2, Ruth E. Patterson3 and Emily White1,2
Background: Use of nonvitamin, nonmineral “specialty” supplements has increased substantially over recent decades. Several supplements may have anti-inflammatory or anticancer properties. Additionally, supplements taken for symptoms of menopause have been associated with reduced risk of breast cancer in two case-control studies. However, there have been no prospective studies of the association between the long-term use of these supplements and breast cancer risk.
Methods: Participants were female members of the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) Cohort. Postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 76 years, who were residents of western Washington State, completed a 24-page baseline questionnaire in 2000 to 2002 (n = 35,016). Participants were queried on their recency (current versus past), frequency (days/week), and duration (years) of specialty supplement use. Incident invasive breast cancers (n = 880) from 2000 to 2007 were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. Multivariable-adjusted hazards ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated by Cox proportional hazards models.
Results: Current use of fish oil was associated with reduced risk of breast cancer (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.50-0.92). Ten-year average use was suggestive of reduced risk (P trend = 0.09). These results held for ductal but not lobular cancers. The remaining specialty supplements were not associated with breast cancer risk: Specifically, use of supplements sometimes taken for menopausal symptoms (black cohosh, dong quai, soy, or St. John's wort) was not associated with risk.
Conclusions: Fish oil may be inversely associated with breast cancer risk.
