Eat fatty fish to avoid kidney cancer

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A higher consumption of fatty fish has been found to reduce the risk of kidney cancer among women.
Renal call carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer and it appears to be on the increase. There's been some evidence that consumption of fatty fish might be linked to a decrease in the risk of several cancer. So researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, set out to discover if this is so for kidney cancer. Their study covered nearly 62,000 women who were asked about their consumption of fatty fish and lean fish. Fatty fish include salmon, herring, sardines and mackerel. Lean fish were cod, tuna and sweet water fish.

During 15 years of follow up, there were 150 cases of this form of kidney cancer. The researchers found that the higher the consumption of fatty fish, the lower the risk of kidney cancer. No such association was found for lean fish. One or more servings of fatty fish per week were linked to a 44 per cent decreased risk of kidney cancer, compared to those who did not eat fish at all. Consistent long-term consumption of fatty fish was linked to a 74 per cent reduction in kidney cancer risk. It may be the omega-3 fatty acids and the vitamin D content of fatty fish which decrease the cancer risk.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 20th September 2006 Volume 296 pages 1371-1376

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