Fish oil tests to look at bowel cancer hope

Scientists from Leeds University will test a naturally occurring omega-3 fish oil component.

Gastroenterologist Prof Mark Hull, from the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, will design a clinical trial to test the effect in humans at risk of or with bowel cancer which has spread to the liver.

The research is being funded by the charity Yorkshire Cancer Research and follows a previous trial in Leeds that showed that fish oil, or pure Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA), may prevent bowel polyps, the precursors of cancer.

Prof Hull said: “We and others have already demonstrated that EPA might have beneficial effects at a later stage after development of malignancy.”