The authors report a case of malignant lung cancer in a 78 year old male with multiple tumors in both lungs. The diagnosis was malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the lungs, a cancer with a very poor prognosis. The patient declined the usual chemotherapy and chose to treat himself nutritionally.
The patient was taking fish oil along with other supplements before his diagnosis. He decided to increase his doses of omega-3 fatty acids and decrease his dietary intake of omega-6 fatty acids, especially common vegetable oils such as corn oil. The authors estimated his intake to be 12 grams daily of omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) daily, in fish oil and algae oil. (That dose would have been hard to obtain from eating fish, alone.) The resulting ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids intake was estimated to be .81.
The patient was studied using scans and X-rays, and he was shown to have a slow and steady reduction of the size of the lung tumor nodules. The original dose of 12 grams of fish oil was insufficient to reduce the size of one of the nodules. That tumor was reduced by increasing the dose to 15 grams and the man remained well after four years.
People who live in the far north, from Alaska to Greenland, and consume high doses of omega-3 have lower rates of colon, breast and prostate cancer than Americans. The frequent consumption of fresh fish reduces the risk of developing lung cancers.
CONCLUSION: A patient with malignant fibrous histiocytoma tumors of the lungs treated himself with high doses (up to 15 grams per day) of omega-3 fish oil and algae oil DHA. He had remission of the tumors after a period of time and was completely asymptomatic at the time of publication of this case in 2005.
NOTE: Omega-6 fatty acids were reduced in the patient’s diet because of they are inflammatory and increase cancer and inflammatory disease. Average Western diet omega-6/omega-3 is 16.0.
PMID: 16201843.
Summary #257.
