TRIP

Eating fish tied to lower risk of colon polyps

Reuters Health News, 2012

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Red snappers lay on ice for sale at JMS Seafood, a fish wholesaler in the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx section of New York City June 21, 2010.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who eat about three servings of fish per week have a somewhat lower chance of having polyps found during a routine colonoscopy than women who eat just one serving every two weeks, according to a new study.
The research doesn't prove that seafood protects against polyps, but it "does increase our confidence that something real is going on," said Dr.
Edward Giovannucci, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who was not involved in this study.
A polyp, also called an adenoma, is a mushroom-shaped tag of tissue that grows in the colon and can develop into colorectal cancer.
The idea researchers have been pursuing is that the omega-3 fats in fish might have an anti-inflammatory effect, similar to aspirin, that could prevent the development of polyps.
Giovannucci said that earlier experiments in animals have showed that omega-3 fats can reduce the risk of this cancer, but that studies of humans have had mixed results.
The team then compared more than 1,400 women without polyps to 456 who had adenomas detected during the procedure.
Among women with adenomas, 23 percent were in the bottom fifth among fish eaters, while 15 percent were in the top fifth.
That means people who eat lots of seafood are somehow protected against polyps, because otherwise the percentages should have been the same.