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. 2024 Oct 17.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.35226. Online ahead of print.

Associations of plasma omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids with overall and 19 site-specific cancers: A population-based cohort study in UK Biobank

Yuchen Zhang  1 , Yitang Sun  2 , Suhang Song  3 , Nikhil K Khankari  4   5 , J Thomas Brenna  6   7   8   9 , Ye Shen  1 , Kaixiong Ye  2   10
Affiliations

Associations of plasma omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids with overall and 19 site-specific cancers: A population-based cohort study in UK Biobank

Yuchen Zhang et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

Previous epidemiological studies on the associations between polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and cancer incidence have been inconsistent. We investigated the associations of plasma omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs with the incidence of overall and 19 site-specific cancers in a large prospective cohort. 253,138 eligible UK Biobank participants were included in our study. With a mean follow-up of 12.9 years, 29,838 participants were diagnosed with cancer. The plasma levels of omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs were expressed as percentages of total fatty acids (omega-3% and omega-6%). In our main models, both omega-6% and omega-3% were inversely associated with overall cancer incidence (HR per SD = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.96-0.99; HR per SD = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.97-1.00; respectively). Of the 19 site-specific cancers available, 14 were associated with omega-6% and five with omega-3%, all indicating inverse associations, with the exception that prostate cancer was positively associated with omega-3% (HR per SD = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01-1.05). Our population-based cohort study in UK Biobank indicates small inverse associations of plasma omega-6 and omega-3 PUFAs with the incidence of overall and most site-specific cancers, although there are notable exceptions, such as prostate cancer.

Keywords: cancer incidence; omega‐3 fatty acids; omega‐6 fatty acids; polyunsaturated fatty acids; prospective cohort study.

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