Effects of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

This study aimed to investigate the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Electronic databases such as PubMed and Web of Science were searched. Studies on the application of PUFAs in patients with CRC, published up to January 2022, were conducted. Twelve studies involving 702 CRC patients were included. For patients undergoing surgery, subgroup analyses indicated that preoperative supplementation with PUFAs improved total postoperative infectious complications (RR: 0.37, p = 0.02). Furthermore, the supplementation of PUFAs in preoperative (WMD: -2.27, p < 0.001) and postoperative (WMD: -2.66, p = 0.01) groups was effective in shortening the postoperative hospital stay for patients with CRC. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (SMD: -0.56, p = 0.007) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) (SMD: -0.54, p = 0.004) levels were lower in all CRC patients receiving PUFAs intervention than in the control group. Moreover, supplementation with PUFAs in chemotherapy patients significantly increased albumin (WMD: 0.48, p = 0.03) and decreased C-reactive protein (CRP) (WMD: -6.12, p = 0.02) compared to the control group. This study demonstrated that PUFAs intervention could diminish the total postoperative infection complications of CRC patients, shorten the postoperative hospital stay, and reduce inflammation.