Can Eating Fish Cause Prostate Cancer?

There seem to be many different risk factors for prostate cancer. Among the most popular are: genetic tendencies, African descent, eating red meat, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, eating dairy products and having many different sex partners. (If you're a Black guy with a lot of sex partners I'll cut my milk.)

Just when it doesn't seem like there is much that is left out or delicious, the American Journal of Epidemiology has added another to the list. Men who eat fish are 2.5 times more likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer. Admittedly, giving fish isn't as difficult as most of the other things on the list, but we always think fish is good for us. Isn't it supposed to be brain food or something?

Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Seattle Cancer Research Center conducted a study on prostate cancer in 19,000 men 55 and older. After several years they tested a subset of 3,000 and found that men who developed aggressive forms of prostate cancer also had the highest levels of DHA (omega 3 fatty acids). This surprised them because they expected higher levels of omega 3 might also protect against cancer. If it does not prevent cancer, they certainly do not expect it to cause cancer. Men with the highest DHA have a higher incidence of disease. Not only do they have prostate cancer but they are aggressive. The kind that kills you quickly. It is also interesting to note that very few subjects take omega 3 supplements. Most of them get it from eating fish.

If you're "Google's Omega 3 prostate cancer fish" across the web. Eating fish increases your risk of developing aggressive forms of prostate cancer. The results came in. The good news is that fish still make excellent fertilizer in your garden.

This is a good time to make a disclaimer. I'm not a doctor. It has always been since I graduated with a degree in Biology that I may not be a good scientist. I'm a Caveman. However, something here seems to concern me. I know that crazy people eat fish. To suddenly find out that the bad fish for us just seemed counter-intuitive, I dug a little.

This study did not start about omega 3 at all. The discovery of omega 3 is anecdotal. It is a trial sponsored by a major drug company selling finasteride. Finasteride is a drug synthesized from progesterone (a female hormone) that shrinks the enlarged prostate and promotes hair growth in bald men. Drug companies are sponsoring this study in the hope that their drugs can also prevent prostate cancer. Is that right? One pill so you don't have to get up at night to pee, prevent prostate cancer and even grow your hair.

All 19,000 men at the beginning of this study and all 3,000 who were eventually tested for prostate cancer took finasteride. As a Caveman, here is what I conclude from this study: Most of them can sleep through the night without waking up to urinate, mostly thinner, some who eat fish develop aggressive prostate cancer.

I think the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that it is not a good idea for men to eat fish and finasterides.

So, can eating fish give you aggressive prostate cancer? Maybe. Maybe not. Because it is very difficult to diagnose prostate cancer in the fossil record, we need to do more research.

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