The response rate of first line chemotherapy in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is less than 30 percent (Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman & Mazurak, 2011). In a recent study, supplementation with the omega 3 fatty acids, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), at a dosage of 2.5 grams daily, was shown to improve the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman & Mazurak, 2011). A total of 46 NSCLC patients completed the study, with 31 assigned conventional treatment and 15 conventional care plus fish oil (Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman & Mazurak, 2011).
Patients using fish oil in combination with chemotherapy reported greater clinical benefit and an increased rate of response (60 percent) compared to patients undertaking conventional protocol (26 percent response rate) (Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman & Mazurak, 2011). Patients were followed for one year to ascertain survival. After one year, survival in the active treatment group (fish oil) was 60 percent compared to 38 percent in the standard care group (Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman & Mazurak, 2011). Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that cancer patients, receiving chemotherapy, are often diagnosed with malnutrition and muscle loss (Granda-Cameron, Demille, Lynch, Huntzinger, Alcorn, Levicoff, Roop & Mintzer, 2010). Hence, it is pleasing to find that Murray, Mourtzakis, Chu, Baracos, Reiman and Mazurak (2011) report that fish oil supplementation can prevent muscle loss and fatigue in patients undertaking chemotherapy treament.
Granda-Cameron, C., Demille, D., Lynch, M.P., Huntzinger, C., Alcorn, T., Levicoff, J., Roop, C & Mintzer, D. 2010. An interdisciplinary approach to manage cancer cachexia. Clinical Journal of Oncology Treatment, 14, 1, 72-80.
Murray, R.A., Mourtzakis, M., Chu, QS., Baracos, VE., Reiman, T & Mazurak, VC. 2011. Supplementation with fish oil increases first-line chemotherapy efficacy in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer. Cancer, doi: 10.1002/cncr.25933 (In Press).
