ArticleCancers2021
N-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acid, and the Role of Supplementation during Cancer Treatment: A Scoping Review of Current Clinical Evidence.
Article in Cancers, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Modulating Inflammation and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review of In Vitro, Animal, and Human Studies.Current oncology reports · 2026Pooled it
- Bibliometric and visual analysis of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in cancer research (2000-2025).Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation and Its Impact on Systemic Inflammation and Body Weight in Patients With Cancer Cachexia-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Nutritional impact of eicosapentaenoic acid supplementation (EPA) in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer: a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial.Nutrition journal · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Perioperative Immunonutrition in Patients Undergoing Lung Cancer Surgery: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Omega-3 fatty acids and chemotherapy-induced toxicities: mechanisms and emerging evidence with a pediatric focus.Nutrition & metabolism · 2025Review
- An Endolichenic Fungi-Derived Fatty Acid, cis-10-Nonadecenoic acid, Suppresses Colorectal Cancer Stemness.Biomolecules & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Potential Causal Relationship Between Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid Metabolites and Meningioma: Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Effect of adipose tissue on the development of multiple myeloma.Molecular biology reports · 2024Review
- Summary of Evidence on Nutritional Management for Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy.Cancer medicine · 2024Review
- Lipid unsaturation promotes BAX and BAK pore activity during apoptosis.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A Free Amino Acid Diet Alleviates Colorectal Tumorigenesis through Modulating Gut Microbiota and Metabolites.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Polysaccharide dextran-based conjugate for selective co-delivery of two synergistic drugs docetaxel and docosahexaenoic acid to tumor cells.Drug delivery · 2023Article
- Docosahexaenoic Acid, a Key Compound for Enhancing Sensitization to Drug in Doxorubicin-Resistant MCF-7 Cell Line.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Nutraceutical-Based Nanoformulations for Breast and Ovarian Cancer Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- N-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Impacts Protein Metabolism Faster Than it Lowers Proinflammatory Cytokines in Advanced Breast Cancer Patients: NaturalMetabolites · 2022Article
- Contribution of n-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids to the Prevention of Breast Cancer Risk Factors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Article
- Review of the endocrine organ-like tumor hypothesis of cancer cachexia in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This scoping review examines the evidence for n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid [LCPUFA, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)] supplementation in clinical cancer therapy. A comprehensive literature search was performed to identify relevant clinical intervention studies conducted through August 2020. Fifty-seven unique cancer trials, assessing EPA and/or DHA supplementation pre- or post-treatment, concomitant with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, or in palliative therapy were included. Breast, head and neck, gastrointestinal, gastric, colorectal/rectal, esophageal, leukemia/lymphoma, lung, multiple myeloma and pancreatic cancers were investigated. Across the spectrum of cancers, the evidence suggests that supplementation increased or maintained body weight, increased progression-free and overall survival, improved overall quality of life, resulted in beneficial change in immune parameters and decreased serious adverse events. Taken together, the data support that EPA and/or DHA could be used to improve outcomes important to the patient and disease process. However, before incorporation into treatment can occur, there is a need for randomized clinical trials to determine the dose and type of n-3 LCPUFA intervention required, and expansion of outcomes assessed and improved reporting of outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.