text_1: Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Lower Breast Cancer Risk in Postmenopausal Obese Women
text_2: This release describes the results of a study testing whether omega-3 fatty acids have a beneficial effect on reducing the risk of breast cancer in obese women by reducing the density of their breast tissue. Higher breast tissue density is recognized as a marker for increased breast cancer risk. The study involved a small group of women who received the omega-3 fatty acid, the omega-3 in tandem with a chemo-preventative drug Raloxifene, the drug alone, or no treatment at all. According to the release, at the end of two years, women considered obese (their body mass index — BMI — was greater than 29) showed a reduction in breast tissue density, which the researchers argued reduced their cancer risk. However, this is misleading. This finding is from a small subgroup of obese women within the already-small study. The main finding of the study — which is never even mentioned in the news release — is that the supplement had no impact on reducing high breast density whether taken alone or in tandem with Raloxifene. The release also omitted projected costs and harms of the prescription-only supplement used in the study. The American Cancer Society predicts that 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women this year and that more than 40,000 women will die from this disease. Easy actions that women can take to prevent this disease, or at least reduce their risk of getting it, are of almost universal interest to the public. If it is shown that taking a readily available supplement like omega-3 fatty acids will reduce breast cancer risk in obese women, that’s information that will be of wide interest.