Omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in fish oil supplements may reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle followed 35,016 post-menopausal women who had no history of breast cancer.
They found that women who regularly used fish oil supplements had a 32 percent reduced risk of developing the most common form of breast cancer. Of the total number of women in the study, 880 developed the disease.
Long-chain, omega-3 fatty acids (abundant in fish oil supplements and fatty fish) are essential building blocks for the cell membranes of the body and brain, blocking inflammation and allowing messages to be transmitted between cells, she said. Because the body doesn't produce it on its own, people must get it from their diet, and fatty fish is the best source.
Among those fish are salmon and sardines. There are plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids — including canola, soybean and flaxseed oil — but the body can't convert them to the more potent form as well as it can the ones that are found in fish, she noted.
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