Fish Oils Stimulate Innate

Wow!  This one has even me surprised.  A recent study has shown omega-3 fatty acids (FA) to help cancer patients preserve muscle tissue and avoid malnutrition.  By taking fish oil supplements, lung cancer patients avoided losing muscle mass and weight from chemotherapy treatments.  Astounding!

The small study, published in the Feb. 28 online edition of Cancer, looked at 40 people with lung cancer that were undergoing 10 weeks of chemotherapy;16 of the subjects received 2.2 grams of fish oil containing the omega-3 fatty acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), while the other 24 received chemotherapy alone.  The results: the chemo only group lost an average of just over 5 pounds, while the chemo plus omega-3 FAs group lost no weight at all.  Further, 70% of the fish oil group either gained or kept their original muscle mass,while 30% of the no fish oil group lost muscle mass.  I'm blown away.

This study is important for the obvious reason--possible supplemental treatment to help keep cancer patients undergoing chemo from wasting away.  But for me the real fascination is how amazing the body is.  Give it what it needs and watch Innate Intelligence take over to produce health.  Incredible!

Some are cautioning against premature optimism.  Says one registered dietitian and assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Dallas,

"I would caution that the amount of pure concentrated fish oil supplement the people in this study were given is a lot--much, much more than any recommended dietary allowance, along the lines of two to three servings of fish per week...[P]eople should definitely not go out and start consuming huge amounts of fish oil."

That's one way of looking at it.  But as far as I'm concerned, we can forget the optimism and try marveling.  Ain't the human body awe-inspiring?  Yes I'm surprised by this study, simply because sometimes I cannot grasp the magnitude of intelligence operating through the human life form...and the universe.  It sure is humbling.  A good reminder that our educated mind cannot improve on nature's order.  Not yet anyhow...and maybe never.

Marijuana Damages DNA

News Alert: Smoking marijuana can damage DNA and cause lung cancer. The solution: Eat more brownies.

Seriously folks, nobody in their right mind thinks that marijuana use is 100% risk free, do they? My regular readers know how I feel about the marijuana issue--I think it should be legalized. Marijuana as a mind-altering substance is relatively benign--that is, it causes little physical harm when compared to alcohol and tobacco.

But saying that, marijuana is still a foreign substance to the human body, and as such, it will have some negative physiological effects. It doesn't surprise me that the link to DNA damage and lung cancer has finally been found. It has certainly been suspected for years. Duh! Think about it: smoke of any kind will be toxic to the lungs. Yeah, we can filter some and remain relatively healthy--the body is that strong (self-healing and self-regulating)--but high or long-term exposure will damage the nuclear genetic material.

Marijuana has its medicinal uses, and all joking aside, ingesting it as an additive to food is a less risky alternative. So if you are an AIDS or cancer patient, choose the brownie--it'll save your breathing apparatus over time.