Noel Clarke, a co-author of the Paterson Institute study, believes eating a diet with the right balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats may well help to keep prostate cancer within the prostate gland where it may be monitored safely or more easily treated with surgery or radiotherapy.

In an analysis published online by the British Medical Journal, a study concludes that intake of omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish and fish oil supplements has no effect on cancer, heart disease and mortality.

At the same time, the British Journal of Cancer reports that scientists from the Paterson Institute at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, have found that eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like oily fish, may help to prevent the spread of the cancerous cells that lead to prostate cancer.

May Help Control Prostate Cancer

Neither are conclusions to be ignored, because the body can't make on its own omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which work together to promote good health. It needs to get them from food. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in vegetable oils, raw nuts and seeds. Omega-3 fatty acids come from oily fish.

So should you be making an effort to include salmon, mackerel, herring and other oily fishes in your weekly menus? Is there any point in taking cod liver oil supplements?

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, 543,000 men worldwide are diagnosed each year with prostrate cancer, the third-most-common cancer in men.

Noel Clarke, a co-author of the Paterson Institute study, believes eating a diet with the right balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats may well help to keep prostate cancer within the prostate gland where it may be monitored safely or more easily treated with surgery or radiotherapy.

To stop cancer cells from spreading, the researchers advise, we need twice as many omega-6 fatty acids as omega-3s, and it is important to maintain a balance of the two.

May Lower Heart Disease Risk

The University of Wales College of Medicine study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reviewed 48 randomized clinical trials with 36,913 participants and follow-ups between six months and six years.

It also examined 41 studies with more than a half million participants and follow-up of up to 25 years. It found that men with angina taking fish oil were at a greater risk of heart disease than those who didn't. Omega-3 fatty acids reduced the risk of mortality by 13 percent, a figure that wasn't deemed significant. Nor did the researchers find any noteworthy decreases in risk for cardiovascular events, stroke or cancer.

Given the study focused primarily on men at risk of heart disease, the researchers concluded that the rest of us should still be encouraged to carry on with our fish oil supplements or oily fish eating.

Wrote Eric Brunner from the Royal Free and University College London Medical School: "For the general public, some omega-3 fat is good for health."

Those of us who like oily fish enough to have faith in its power and who remember those studies that first warned of the dangers of salt and butter, then later concluded margarine and a lack of salt were worse, will probably keep on eating as wisely as we can. And sit back for the next new findings to stir the waters.

Baked Sardines

2 fresh filleted sardines per person
1/2 loaf of fresh white bread
zest of 1 lemon
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 425 F. Remove the crusts from the loaf and blitz the bread in a blender to make crumbs. Dump into a mixing bowl. In the blender, blitz the parsley with the olive oil, lemon zest and garlic then mix well into the breadcrumbs. Open out the sardines and lay them skin side down in a lightly oiled baking dish. Grind black pepper generously over them, then lightly scatter over the breadcrumb mixture and bake till the crumbs are brown and the fish cooked through, 8-10 minutes.

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