Top 10 benefits of omega-3 EPA for cancer patients

Today's post is written by Sophie Tully and Dr Nina Bailey from Igennus Healthcare Nutrition, which focuses on providing natural means of improving health based on scientific research.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is a long-chain omega-3 fat which is associated with considerable health benefits. Much research has been carried out to understand the role of EPA in heart, brain and mental health; a huge body of evidence is emerging to show that EPA plays a significant role in the prevention, control and recovery from cancer. Here are the top actions of EPA in cancer prevention and recovery, according to the latest published research. 

Ten Benefits of omega-3 EPA:

1.      EPA decreases migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells – thus helping protect against metastasis

2.      EPA helps to prevent weight loss and increase survival time in cachexia

3.      EPA naturally reduces inflammation – high inflammation correlates strongly with cancer risk, severity and progression

4.      EPA helps increase the therapeutic effect of cancer therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy

5.      EPA helps to reduce the severity of cancer therapy side-effects, thus improving quality of life during treatment and recovery

6.      EPA helps to slow angiogenesis, which reduces tumour growth rate

7.      EPA helps to reduce the production of aromatase that converts to oestrogen and thus helps to prevents oestrogen-dependent breast cancers

8.      EPA prevents unwanted cancer cell replication by directly switching off the genes responsible for stimulating cell turnover

9.      BRCA1/BRCA2 genes are tumour suppressor genes. EPA increases their expression and, consequently, decreases replication and increases programmed cell death of breast cancer

10.  EPA helps to reduce rectal polyp number and size in high colorectal cancer risk groups

With new studies and evidence being published almost weekly, together with its extremely safe and well tolerated profile, EPA offers huge potential to help prevent, manage and enhance recovery from all cancer types.

For more information and to speak to a nutrition scientist about how EPA could help you, contact us at info@igennus.com 08451300424 asking for Nina or Sophie