Omega-3 Supplements and Blood Counts in Malnourished Cancer Patients
This retrospective study looked at 87 hospital patients with gastrointestinal cancer who were malnourished or at nutritional risk after discharge. Over three weeks, 46 patients received an omega-3-enriched oral nutrition supplement plus dietary counseling, while 41 received dietary counseling alone.
Patients who took the omega-3 supplement had a smaller drop in neutrophil counts (a type of white blood cell) and ended the three weeks with higher body weight, BMI, white blood cell counts, and neutrophil counts compared to those who only received dietary counseling, even after adjusting for starting values and tumor differences.
However, markers often used to gauge systemic inflammation—including CRP, the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, and the systemic immune-inflammation index—did not show a consistent improvement with the omega-3 supplement. One inflammation-related ratio (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio) was actually higher in the supplemented group after adjustment.
What this means for you
In this small, short-term study of malnourished cancer patients, adding an omega-3-enriched nutrition supplement was linked to better weight maintenance and less decline in certain blood cell counts, but it did not clearly reduce inflammation markers. Because this is an observational study with baseline differences between groups, these findings are preliminary and don’t establish that omega-3 supplementation directly causes these effects.
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Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2026-08-28 · DOI: 10.3791/71894
Read the original source ↗This summary is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always talk to your healthcare provider before making changes to your supplement routine.