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Omega-3 fatty acids in diet can slow down the growth of breast cancer by as much as 30 percent, according to a new study.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in women in the U.S. Despite its high prevalence, researchers aren't sure why normal breast cells turn cancerous. According to most experts, breast cancer is caused by a combination of genetic, hormonal and environmental factors.

The present study found that life-long consumption of omega-3 in diet can help cut the risk of breast cancer.

"It's a significant finding. We show that lifelong exposure to omega-3s has a beneficial role in disease prevention - in this case, breast cancer prevention. What's important is that we have proven that omega-3s are the driving force and not something else," said David Ma, a professor in Guelph's Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and one of the study's authors.

Omgea-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acids that are required for certain functions in the body. Many experts believe that omega-3 in diet helps protect the heart.

In the U.S., the main sources of omega-3 fatty acids are vegetable oils, particularly canola and soybean oils, fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and tuna, says National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Low levels of omega-3 in the diet have also been linked to high levels of post-partum depression or "baby blues" in women.

For their study, researchers created a mouse model that was genetically altered to develop fatal breast cancer and produce omega-3 fatty acids. Researchers assessed the growth of tumor in this mouse and compared it with a mouse model that was genetically tweaked to develop breast tumor.

"This model provides a purely genetic approach to investigate the effects of lifelong omega-3s exposure on breast cancer development," Ma said in a news release."To our knowledge, no such approach has been used previously to investigate the role of omega-3s and breast cancer."

Study results showed that mice that produced omega-3 fatty acids had about two-thirds as many tumors as the control mice, and also these tumors were 30 percent smaller than the ones found in control mice.

"The fact that a food nutrient can have a significant effect on tumour development and growth is remarkable and has considerable implications in breast cancer prevention," Ma said.

The study is published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

According to estimates by the National Cancer Institute, 232,340 new cases of female breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2013 in the U.S. and nearly 40,000 women will die due to breast cancer.