Some Facts about Flaxseed
A recent health report on a local Cleveland television station has just reignited interest in flaxseed, touted by its proponents as a natural ingredient that may slow the growth of breast cancer cells in women.
The report is actually a belated follow-up to a presentation at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, in which a pair of Canadian researchers hailed flaxseed as a dietary ingredient that may have a direct impact on the biology of human breast and colon cancer cells.
Dr. Paul Goss, a breast cancer researcher at the University of Toronto, told attendees that brown flaxseed in a diet can have a preventive effect on breast and colon cancers. While not typically included in American diets, he said, it is a common ingredient in several parts of Europe.
Because flaxseed is an extremely rich source of phytoestrogens, which have been shown to have cancer-preventive properties, Goss and a colleague at the University of Toronto, Lilian Thompson, Ph.D., set out to evaluate what effect dietary flaxseed might have on women with breast cancer.
Their study involved 50 women who had been recently diagnosed with the disease. They were divided into two groups; one group received a daily muffin containing 50 grams of ground flaxseed (about 2 tablespoons), while the other was given ordinary muffins.
When the tumors were removed after surgery, usually within 40 days of diagnosis, the researchers found that the women who consumed the flaxseed muffins had slower-growing tumors than those in the control group.
The researchers emphasized that more studies are needed to determine flaxseed's true effectiveness in slowing tumor growth, but they deemed these preliminary results extremely encouraging.
Flaxseed had earlier been in the headlines when Thompson participated in a 1997 symposium "Flaxseed in Human Nutrition," which preceded the 16th International Congress of Nutrition in Montreal.
At the symposium, Thompson presented data on flaxseed and its effect on breast and colon cancer prevention. She noted that flaxseed is the richest plant source of lignan precursors-important because lignans have been shown in animal studies to be protective against breast and colon cancers.
Thompson noted that flaxseed appeared to affect all three stages of cancer development-initiation, tumor development, and tumor growth and spread. "Human clinical studies are needed to confirm these results," she cautioned, "but flaxseed has tremendous potential to positively affect our health."
In his presentation in San Antonio, Goss noted that consumers have been buying flaxseed oil capsules from health food stores for years. However, he recommended that ground flaxseed, rather than whole seeds or capsules, should be used to get the most benefit.
SOURCES:
WEWS News Channel 5, Cleveland, Ohio, April 10, 2001
23rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 8, 2000, San Antonio, Texas
Global TV, Toronto, Canada, December 8, 2000
16th International Congress of Nutrition, July 30, 1997, Montreal, Canada