Breast cancer (BC) is leading cancer in women. As most of the cancers, it is characterized by inflammation and alternations in lipid and fatty acid metabolism. Patients with BC have impaired fatty acid profiles, low level of PUFAs, and high n-6/n-3 PUFAs ratio. Moreover, these changes are related to clinical outcome.
Fish oil is the richest source of anti-inflammatory n-3 PUFAs. Evening primrose oil (EPO) is rich in 18:3 n-6, the only n-6 fatty acid with an anti-inflammatory effect. Dietary intake of fish oil or EPO has been shown to decrease inflammation and improve PUFAs status in patients with cancers. However, it is not known what is the effect of combined EPO and fish oil in BC patients.
The study design is double-blind, controlled, randomized nutritional intervention. The participants are randomly assigned into intervention and control group before starting chemotherapy. All patients receive nutritional counseling to achieve a daily energy and protein intake according to recommended dietary allowances, with (intervention) or without (control) of milled seed mix.
