March 24, 2009 /PHILADELPHIA, AACR / – Omega-3 fatty acids appear protective against advanced prostate cancer, and this effect may be modified by a genetic variant in the COX-2 gene, according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“The COX-2 increased risk of disease was essentially reversed by increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake by a half a gram per day,” said John S. Witte, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco.

If men want to interpret the results in terms of adding omega-3 rich fish to their regular diet, he said, “the strongest effect was seen from eating dark fish such as salmon one or more times per week.”

An anti-cancer compound in broccoli and cabbage, indole-3-carbinol, is undergoing clinical trials in men with prostate cancer and women with breast cancer because it was found to stop the growth of these cancers in mice.

Now scientists have discovered more about how it works. They’ve found that in breast cancer it lowers the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing cancer growth, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study appearing this week in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new findings are claimed as the first to explain how indole-3-carbinol (I3C) stops cell growth. This new understanding is expected to speed designs for improved versions of the chemical that would be more effective as a drug and could work against a broader range of breast as well as prostate tumors.

Canadian researchers report that men who eat fish several times a week may protect themselves from prostate cancer, while men who eat meat, ham or sausage 5 times a week may have a 3-fold increased risk of prostate cancer. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting a relationship between diet and prostate cancer risk.

“Many studies have suggested that nutritional factors may affect prostate cancer development,” says Armen Aprikian, MD. of the urology division McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Que. ” The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between dietary habits and prostate cancer detection.”

Salmon is a super-food even compared to other oily fish like mackerel and herring. According to a study that breaks new ground, salmon’s omega-3 fatty acids are especially protective against prostate cancer for men who have one specific, common variation in a single gene.

Maria Hedelin PH.D.

Maria Hedelin, a scientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden has found evidence that the protective effect of salmon and marine fatty acids apply with extra potency to men with a genetic variation in the COX-2 gene, which is a gene that helps regulate the body’s production of inflammatory chemicals called prostaglandins.

High intake of marine fatty acids and oily fish, especially salmon, Hedelin’s study found, “is strongly associated” with decreased relative risk of prostate cancer.

Not all fish are as beneficial. This study found that “high intake of lean fish and shellfish is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.”

Dr. Gary Stoner, a researcher in chemoprevention, is currently conducting several trials evaluating black raspberry supplements as a way to prevent or slow the growth of colon and other cancers. He and other scientists at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have been researching the anticancer properties of berries for nearly 20 years.