[Ed. note: Here’s an article illustrating the pro and con of diet. The bottom line seems to be that heart-healthy is all-healthy.]
On July 10, 2013, Theodore M. Brasky, PhD, of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, and colleagues published a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2013;105:1132-1141) that they said confirms previous reports of increased prostate cancer (PCa) risk among men with high blood levels of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Two months later, a team led by James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD, of the Mid America Heart Institute at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., and Wegmans Pharmacy in Ithaca, N.Y., presented its own take on those results, noting in Missouri Medicine (2013;110:292-295) that “the Brasky paper only demonstrates an association between plasma phospholipid omega-3s and subsequent prostate cancer risk; it cannot prove that omega-3 fatty acids (and particularly fish oil) cause prostate cancer.”
Dr. DiNicolantonio and his coauthors, including two cardiovascular physicians, further contended that a more thorough review of the pertinent literature suggests that increased omega-3 fatty acid consumption does not increase PCa risk, and notably decreases PCa mortality, while “most certainly” reducing risk for sudden death and cardiovascular events.