The Institute of Food Research (IFR), a scientific organization in the UK, is going to be researching whether eating salmon or cod twice a week can aid in the prevention of cancer. They’ve recruited 135 volunteers, all of which are at high risk of developing bowel cancer. This was a juicy little tidbit:

In the past, work at the IFR has shown that oil-rich fish could be protective, as studies using fish oils high in the n-3 (or omega 3) fatty acids can induce pre-cancerous and cancer cells to die.

Wow. Fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids can actually kill cancer cells. What specificially do they hope to find out from this test?

Dr. Lund and her team, in collaboration with University of East Anglia and the N&N, have funding from the European Union and the UK Food Standards Agency to investigate whether it is just the oil-rich fish that are protective or whether all fish are beneficial.

Pssst, Dr. Lund: It’s the fish oil!

And what’s in it for the volunteers?

The volunteers taking part in the study are provided with free frozen fish and given a pack containing the recipes, donated by celebrity chefs, that they can use.

Sign me up! I wonder who the celebrity chefs are. Anyway, if you have a history of cancer in your family, you’d better start taking fish oil today!