Fish oil may help cancer patients from losing weight

BEIJING. March 2. KAZINFORM Taking fish oil may help cancer patients to preserve their weight, according to a study published on Monday in online edition of "Cancer." Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

This finding is based on a small study involved 40 lung cancer patients. Sixteen of them kept a daily dose of 2.2 grams fish oil for 10 weeks; as the comparison group, the other 24 patients underwent the same regimen but the fish oil intake.

The muscle and fat measurements 10 weeks later revealed that the group without fish oil lost an average 5 pounds (about 2.3 kilograms), yet the group took fish oil almost remained the same weight and had no side effects were observed.

This finding seemed to be greatly promising because no previous researches found an effective treatment to the malnutrition in cancer patients, said Lona Sandon, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Dallas.

But, the researchers still hold a cautious attitude to the finding, and warned patients from starting to consume large amount of fish oil before further researches had been done. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version