There’s a new study that came out yesterday that links the use of fish oils and prostate cancer.  Here is my short analysis.

My statistics teacher in college on our last day of class, “If you don’t remember anything else, just remember correlation does not equal causation.”

In other words, just because something is associated with a certain problem (i.e. prostate cancer), doesn’t mean that association is causing the problem.

Here’s a reality: once a person is diagnosed with a cancer, they are likely to take supplements in higher doses relative to BEFORE they were diagnosed.

Once again, in my opinion, this is the kind of study that is designed to fuel paranoia against the use of supplements.

Here’s some general guidelines I use for fish oil supplements:

1) 1 gram – 3 times a day before meals is the normal dietary dosage.
In therapeutic cases, the doses (under supervision of a physician) can be significantly higher, but it must be balanced with a proportionate level of vitamin E to minimize peroxidation.

2) Use highly refined or purified oils produced from fish from known clean ocean areas.
There’s so much deception in the market, you take a risk of consuming toxins or not getting the advertised level of the good oils from cheap products.

3) If you are going to use supplements, avoid cheap ones.

4) Continue efforts to improve your diet.

Taking supplements, as well as taking prescription medicines, are not “free passes” to continue to binge on your favorite health-destroying habits. And while high dosages of some supplements can be used in nutrition-therapy, they should not be indiscriminately eaten like candy.

If you have a million-dollar race horse, you’re not going to feed it whiskey and cigars (well, at least not cheap cigars ….).

CY