The traditional diet of Greece and cancer.

[R.B.]

Sorry over familiarity with the terms on my part (-:

PUFA = polyunsaturated fatty acid

n3 = Omega 3

n6 = Omega 6

Marine 'PUFA' are likely to be mainly Omega 3 EPA and DHA

RR = relative risk

It looks like they split the groups into 3, and are saying that the group with the most Omega 6 and the least Omega 3 in the diet had approximately twice the risk of breast cancer of the group with the highest Omega 3 and lowest Omega 6.

They are saying at the most basic level that the results suggest risk of BC is more about the Omega 3:6 balance rather than the absolute amounts of Omega 3 or 6 in the diet.

I have not seen the whole paper, and Chinese dietary Omega 3 : 6 ratios historically would have been better that those in the west, so I just post this as another twig in the Omega 3 : 6 debate.


This is part of the pattern seen in this thread.

There is a French paper posted here somewhere looking at the risk that excised breast lumps were cancerous. They looked at the amount of long chain Omega 3 in the breast tissue v the number of lumps that were cancerous. They split the group into four. The women with the highest amounts of long chain Omega 3 had a 70% lower risk that the lumps were cancerous than the women with the lowest amounts of long chain Omega 3.

Thought provoking stuff (-: