Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation Improve Nutritional Status and Inflammatory Response in Patients With Lung Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Study answer

What this study found

Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation for 12 weeks improved nutritional status and reduced systemic inflammation versus placebo. Final weight: 66.71 kg vs 61.33 kg (p=0.021); final albumin: 4.74 vs 4.21 g/dL (p=0.013); final triglycerides: 130.90 vs 119.07 mg/dL (p=0.032). Inflammatory markers CRP decreased to 1.42 vs 3.00 mg/L (p=0.001) and TNF-α to 1.92 vs 4.24 pg/mL (p=0.001). IL-6 did not significantly change (final 4.15 vs 4.20 pg/mL). BMI, upper-arm circumference, and skinfold thickness showed no significant differences. Authors conclude omega-3 supplementation can improve nutritional…

Study & population

60 adults with pathology-confirmed lung cancer at nutritional risk (NRS-2002 score ≥4) were randomized to a double-blind, parallel-group trial of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation vs placebo.

Intervention

EPA 1.6 g/day and DHA 0.8 g/day in fish oil gel capsules; taken daily for 12 weeks.

Key limitation

Small sample size (n=60; 58 analyzed); single-center; short duration (12 weeks); population limited to nutritionally at-risk lung cancer patients; cannot distinguish effects of EPA vs DHA; focused on nutritional/inflammatory biomarkers with no mortality or chemotherapy-toxicity outcomes.

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Original abstract