EPA helps cancer patients gain weight
Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer suffering
from cachexia (severe muscle wasting and weakness) gain both weight and
lean body mass from taking a high calorie, high protein feed supplemented
with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in addition to their normal meals, research
shows.
A prospective study presented at last week's 11th
European Cancer Congress in Lisbon involved 200 severely cachectic patients
with advanced pancreatic cancer who were losing weight at a rate of 3.3kg/month.
Intervention group patients (n=95) were asked to take between 1.5 and
two cans per day of an oral supplement that contained 310kcal, 16.1g protein,
49.7g carbohydrate and 6.5g fat (including EPA 1.09g and docosahexaenoic
acid 0.46g) per 237ml (8oz) can. The remaining 105 patients took an isocaloric,
isonitrogenous control supplement.
Patients were studied at baseline, four and eight
weeks for the effect of the two interventions on body weight, lean body
mass, dietary intake, quality of life and plasma EPA levels.
Study author Professor Kenneth Fearon, department
of clinical and surgical sciences, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, found a
clear dose-response relationship between the supplement intake in the
EPA-enriched group with weight (P<0.001) and lean body mass
(P=0.036), but no such correlations in the control group patients.
These relationships were confirmed by objective measurement of plasma
EPA levels.
Professor Fearon said that EPA down-regulates some
of the catabolic pathways thought to contribute to muscle wasting in cancer,
particularly those involving proinflammatory cytokines and tumour-specific
cachectic factors. "With this supplement we are providing EPA and inhibiting
the metabolic abnormality that is contributing to muscle wasting, while
providing high quality protein and an energy source to provide the building
blocks for the restoration of lean tissue."
— Contributed.
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