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TUESDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids abundant in fatty fish like salmon and sardines may help protect your kidneys against cancer, new research suggests.
A large, 15-year Swedish study of women looked at fatty and lean fish consumption and the risk of kidney cancer. The finding: Those who ate high amounts of fatty fish -- more than one serving a week -- had 44 percent less risk for developing renal cell carcinoma (the most common form of kidney cancer) than those who did not consume any fish.
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"That's substantial," said Eugenia Calle, director of analytic epidemiology for the American Cancer Society. "There is very little published on this topic -- it may be the only study to look at fatty fish and kidney cancer."
The findings were published in the Sept. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Previous studies on fish consumption and cancer risk produced inconsistent results, Calle said, and they were limited in that they looked at all types of fish consumption. There has been some experimental data with animals and cells that suggest fatty fish, with their abundance of omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin D, may protect against cancer, she added.
The Swedish study, led by Alicja Wolk of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, "is probably the first study to look at fatty fish consumption. There's a lot of hypotheses but not a lot of studies yet," Calle said.
The study investigated the association between fatty-fish and lean-fish consumption and the incidence of kidney cancer in 61,433 women. Fatty fish included salmon, herring, sardines, and mackerel; lean fish included cod, tuna and fresh water fish; and seafood included shrimp, lobster and crayfish. The participants answered a food frequency questionnaire when they entered the study in 1987 and in September 1997.
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