New research adds to the growing body of information that indicates omega-3 fatty acids boost health in a variety of ways.
The new research shows omega-3 fatty acids, contained in oily fish such as salmon and trout, “selectively inhibit growth and induce cell death in early and late-stage oral and skin cancers,” according to a press release from the University of London.
In the experiments, the scientists grew cell cultures in the lab from several different cells lines to which they added fatty acids. The cell lines included both malignant oral and skin SCCs, along with pre-malignant cells and normal skin and oral cells. Professor Kenneth Parkinson, Head of the Oral Cancer Research Group at Queen Mary’s Institute of Dentistry, said: “We found that the omega-3 fatty acid selectively inhibited the growth of the malignant and pre-malignant cells at doses which did not affect the normal cells.