Omega-3 can kill cancer cells, says study

Docosahexanoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid, has been shown to reduce the size of tumors and enhance the positive effects of the  chemotherapy drug cisplatin, while limiting its harmful side effects,  according to the open-access journal Cell Division.

A El-Mowafy led a team of researchers from Mansoura University, Egypt,  who studied DHA's effects on solid tumors growing in mice, as well as  investigating how this fatty acid interacts with cisplatin, a  chemotherapy drug that is known to cause kidney damage. He said: "DHA  elicited prominent chemopreventive effects on its own, and appreciably  augmented those of cisplatin as well. Furthermore, this study is the  first to reveal that DHA can obliterate lethal cisplatin-induced  nephrotoxicity and renal tissue injury."

The researchers found that, at the molecular level, DHA acts by reducing  leukocytosis, systemic inflammation and oxidative stress - all processes  that have been linked with tumor growth.