Dietary fat and cancer
Selectively increasing dietary fat may be valuable in the treatment of cancer: specifically, by reducing the growth or spreading of malignant tumors. The article, entitled "Effects of Lipids on Cancer Therapy," is published in the June 1990 issue of Nutrition Reviews.
The authors, C. Patrick Burns, M.D., and Arthur Spector, M.D., both from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, discuss how dietary fats help change the cancer cell membranes, or coverings, and increase the production of prostaglandins (substances which control the cells environment). These changes greatly enhance the effectiveness of certain antineoplastic therapies. In some cancers, such as mammary carcinomas, the increased intake of omega-3 fats alone had a positive therapeutic effect.