]> 2026-04-12T09:00:25-07:00 Fish oil 0 en Fish Oil, or Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA and DHA), is well-tolerated by patients. This supplement is not typically associated with severe or dangerous side effects. The most common side effects include a fishy aftertaste and minor gastrointestinal discomfort. Therefore, it's toxicity level is low. 2025-01-18T08:20:25Z 2460693.8475116 Fish oil 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has OS with","Fish oil supplementation: Malnourished advanced cancer patients: 210 days; adequately nourished patients: 500 days; metastatic breast cancer trial with high-DHA: median survival of 34 months vs. low-DHA: 18 months; non-small cell lung cancer with fish oil: 60% one-year survival"] Fish oil# ERR3aabb59ff203b92cc3bf951971663903 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has original text","Fish oil (source of omega-3 fatty acids)\n\nThe major omega-3 fatty acids found in cold-water fish oil, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)\nand docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have also been demonstrated to have potent cytotoxic\neffects on cancer cells in various laboratory experiments. Part of their mechanism of\naction is similar to that of GLA, in that the metabolism of these fatty acids creates high\nlevels of free radicals. In addition, a recent laboratory study has shown that EPA-treated\ntumors showed a significant arrest of cell division due to inhibition of cyclins at the G1\nphase of cell division, which resulted in an increased rate of programmed cell death\nknown as apoptosis (241).\n\nA clinical trial comparing fish-oil supplements versus a placebo has also been reported,\ninvolving patients with several different types of advanced cancer (242). Thirty\nmalnourished patients suffering from cachexia were randomly assigned to receive 18 g of\nfish oil per day or a placebo sugar pill. An additional thirty subjects, adequately\nnourished, received a similar random assignment. For both groups the fish oil\nsignificantly increased survival. For the malnourished patients the median survival times,\nas estimated from their survivor functions, were 110 days for the patients receiving\nplacebo and 210 days for patients in the fish oil group. For the adequately nourished\npatients, the corresponding numbers were 350 versus 500 days.\n\nIn laboratory studies (243) fish oil has also been shown to increase the effectiveness of\nchemotherapy and radiation. A phase II trial involving 25 heavily pretreated metastatic\nbreast cancer patients, used 1.8 g\/day of DHA, one of the two major fatty acids in fish oil,\nin combination with standard anthracycline-based chemotherapy (244). Patients\npreviously had failed both chemotherapy and hormone treatments and many had\nmultiple metastases, including many liver metastases. Because this was a phase II trial,\nthere was no control group that received chemotherapy alone, but patients were\nsubdivided according to their level of plasma DHA. The two groups were approximately\nequal with respect to all major prognostic variables. Median survival for the high DHA\npatients was 34 months, vs. 18 months for the low-DHA patients.\n\nA second clinical trial presented 2200 mg of EPA plus 240 mg of DHA to patients with\nadvanced non small cell lung cancer (245). Patients either received only the standard of\ncare of chemotherapy, or the same treatment in combination with daily fish oil. Response\nrate (tumor regressions) was 60% in the fish oil group and 26% in those receiving only\nthe standard of care. One-year survival was 60% in the fish oil group versus 39% in those\nreceiving only chemotherapy. Chemotherapy toxicity was also decreased in those using\nfish oil."] Fish oil# ERRa3f62c6665776505f0db7c26c19aebf1