the relationship between polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and prostate cancer

prostate cancer is the most common cancer in america and canada, and is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. dietary factors play an important role in prostate cancer development; one of them is dietary fat, particularly pufa intake. thus, this study aimed to review the current articles on the correlation between pufa and prostate cancer. we searched the pubmed database, and selected articles with the designs of case-control, cohort, prospective cohort, and prospective. in animal studies, a direct relationship was observed between omega-6 fatty acid intake and tumor growth, and an inverse relationship between omega-3 fatty acid consumption and prostate tumor growth. omega-3 fatty acids are substrate for the synthesis of anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, but omega-6 fatty acids are substrate for the synthesis of pre-inflammatory eicosanoids. in most human studies, an inverse relationship was observed between fish consumption and prostate cancer, and a direct relationship between alpha-linolenic acid and prostate cancer. the results of human studies are conflicting on the relationship between pufa and prostate cancer. marin- and plant-derived omega-3 fatty acids have different effects on prostate cancer. in most studies, alpha-linolenic acid was associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. thus, further studies are needed on the relationship between pufa intake and prostate cancer.