Michael Savage slams study linking fish oil to cancer
WND
Expert calls it 'an association that, at best, is very weak'
Talk-radio host Michael Savage, who has a Ph.D. in epidemiology and nutrition from Cal Berkeley, condemned on his show last night the highly publicized study linking prostate cancer to fish-oil supplements.
Savage, who read the study, said the research presented in what he called a “very, very dangerous report” does not support the conclusion that there is a higher risk of prostate cancer among men who consume omega-3 fatty acids.
Savage interviewed an expert on prostate cancer, Anthony Victor D’Amico, M.D., who has a doctorate from M.I.T.
D’Amico agreed that the study “really cannot make the conclusion that it’s trying to, because these types of studies are not cause and effect; that is, if you take the fish oil you’re going to get an aggressive or some kind of prostate cancer.”
The study, reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found a 71-percent higher risk for dangerous high-grade prostate cancer among men who ate fatty fish or took fish-oil supplements.
D’Amico explained to “The Savage Nation” audience that the conclusions in studies of this kind are simply associations.
“And when you have an association-type study, the way you strengthen it – which is not what they did – is you try to adjust for that association for all the things you know can cause prostate cancer,” he said.
D’Amico said that while the study accounted for family history and diabetes, it left out some important risk factors for prostate cancer, such as ethnicity, PSA level, age and body-mass index.
“What you’re left with at the end of the day is an association that, at best, is very weak and further weakened by the fact that they didn’t account for the known predictors of prostate cancer when they were making the calculation,” D’Amico said.