Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Fish oil and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) supplementation (2.0-2.2 g/day EPA and 1.5 g/day DHA) can help preserve skeletal muscle and reduce intramuscular adipose tissue in cancer patients, particularly those with advanced lung or pancreatic cancer.
Cancer patients, especially those with lung or pancreatic cancer, may benefit from fish oil supplements providing 2-2.2g of EPA and 1.5g of DHA daily. This can help preserve muscle mass and reduce harmful intramuscular fat during chemotherapy.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
During chemotherapy, approximately 69% of patients taking fish oil maintained or gained skeletal muscle (measured by computed tomography imaging) compared with 29% of patient receiving standard-of-care. ... Intramuscular adipose tissue increased by 9.5 ± 5.2 %/100 days in the control group but decreased by 16.4 ± 13.9%/100 days in the fish oil group, which was significantly different.
Why this rating
Multiple studies, including randomized trials, show positive effects on muscle maintenance and intramuscular fat reduction, though some studies show no effect.
Source
Nutrition interventions to treat low muscle mass in cancer
Carla M. Prado et al. · Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle · 2020
DOI 10.1002/jcsm.12525
narrative_reviewCited 371×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Nutrition interventions targeting 25-30 kcal/kg/day energy and 1.0-1.5 g/kg/day protein intake can prevent or attenuate low muscle mass (MM) in cancer patients, though current evidence is limited by short intervention durations and lack of oncology-specific study designs.Moderate
- Supplementation with Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs), specifically leucine (2-4 g/day), may help ameliorate muscle loss in cancer by promoting protein synthesis, though long-term effects on muscle mass require further investigation.Moderate
- β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation (3 g/day) may help improve body composition in cancer patients, particularly those with smaller initial weight loss, by minimizing protein degradation.Moderate
Related findings · Micronutrients & recovery
- Trans fats (industrial trans-fatty acids) are unequivocally harmful and should be completely avoided as they raise LDL-C, TGs, and Apo B while lowering HDL-C.Strong
- For menopausal women with osteoporosis, first-line pharmacologic therapies include alendronate, risedronate, zoledronic acid, and denosumab for the prevention of hip, nonvertebral, and vertebral fractures.Strong
- Folic acid fortification of flour prevents neural tube birth defects, and mandatory fortification is more effective than voluntary supplementation alone.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →