In addition to lowering your cholesterol, keeping your brain healthy and improving mental health, new research from the University of Georgia suggests omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids may help ward off a variety of cancers.
The study relied on data from more than 250,000 people and found that higher levels of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids were associated with a lower risk of developing cancer.
Participants with higher levels of omega-3s had lower rates of colon, stomach and lung cancer, in addition to lower rates of other digestive tract cancers.
High omega-6 levels led to lower rates of 14 different cancers, including brain, malignant melanoma, bladder and more.
The study relied on data from a United Kingdom-based study of over 250,000 people who were followed for more than a decade. Of those participants, almost 30,000 developed some form of cancer during the study period.
Some earlier research drew connections between levels of fatty acids and risk of developing cancer. However, no studies could conclusively determine whether omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids reduced cancer rates or increased the likelihood of surviving a cancer diagnosis.
Importantly, the benefits of high levels of fatty acids were not dependent on other risk factors like BMI, alcohol use or physical activity.
In the present study, the researchers found that high omega-3 levels could be associated with a slightly higher risk of prostate cancer.
The researchers also saw a stronger beneficial effect of omega-6 in younger participants, particularly women.
