"Omega fatty acids may lower the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal obese women according to researchers. The protection likely comes from the fatty acids antiinflammatory effects said Dr. Andrea Manni httpsprofiles.psu.eduprofilesdisplay professor and division chief of endocrinology diabetes and metabolism Penn State College of Medicine httpmed.psu.edu.  Obesity is a major breast cancer risk factor in postmenopausal women and scientists believe increased inflammation is an important underlying cause in this population.  Omega fatty acids have an antiinflammatory effect so thats one of the reasons why we suspected it may be particularly effective in obese women Manni said.  Some epidemiological data supports the idea that omegas protect against breast cancer but the findings have been inconsistent. Manni suspected that data from normalweight women obscured the results.  Normalweight women have less inflammation than heavier women and are therefore less likely to benefit from antiinflammatory omegas he said.  To tease apart the effects Mannis team working alongside researchers from Emory University and Colorado State University looked at the influence of prescription omega supplementation on breast density in different weight women. Breast density is a wellestablished biomarker for breast cancer risk and may be an independent risk factor as well. The higher the breast density the more likely the woman will develop breast cancer Manni said. The study included  healthy postmenopausal women with high breast density detected by routine mammograms. The women either received no treatment the antiestrogen drug Raloxifene the prescription omega drug Lovaza or a combination of the two drugs. At the conclusion of the twoyear study the researchers found that increasing levels of omega in the blood were associated with reduced breast densitybut only in women with a body mass index above  bordering on obesity.  Although Lovaza contains both of the fatty acids DHA   milligrams  and EPA   milligrams only DHA blood levels were associated with breast density reduction. The researchers plan to test the effect of DHA alone in obese subjects potentially in combination with weight loss in a future trial.  The finding supports the idea that omegas and specifically DHA are preferentially protective in obese postmenopausal women Manni said. This represents an example of a personalized approach to breast cancer prevention.  These findings may help to support future research looking at the direct effect of omega supplementation on breast cancer incidence in obese women. Manni added that with obesityrelated cancers on the rise the findings could have implications beyond breast cancer.  The researchers also made a secondary discovery. Lovaza is an omega drug FDAapproved for the treatment of severe high triglycerides at the dose of  milligrams daily. In the current study the combination of Lovaza and a half recommended dose of Raloxifene at  milligrams was superior to the individual treatments in reducing triglycerides and LDL  bad  cholesterol and increasing HDL  good  cholesterol.  Other investigators on this project were Narinder Sandhu and Carina Signori Department of Medicine Susann E. Schetter Department of Radiology Jason Liao and Ana Calcagnotto Department of Public Health Sciences John P. Richie Bogdan Prokopczyk and Neil Trushin Department of Pharmacology Cynthia DuBrock Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute Christopher Hamilton and Laurence M. Demers Department of Pathology Cesar Aliaga and Karam ElBayoumy Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology all at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Terryl J. Hartman Emory University and John McGinley and Henry J. Thompson Colorado State University.Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute funded this research. GlaxoSmith Kline and Eli Lilly supplied Lovaza and Raloxifene respectively. About Penn State College of MedicineLocated on the campus of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey Pa. Penn State College of Medicine boasts a portfolio of nearly  million in funded research. Projects range from the development of artificial organs and advanced diagnostics to groundbreaking cancer treatments and understanding the fundamental causes of disease. Enrolling its first students in  the College of Medicine has more than  students and trainees in medicine nursing the health professions and biomedical research on its campus."