FLAX SEED LOWERS RISK OF BC

nancysmile

Hope everyone read about new study that FLAX SEED lowers risk of breast cancer by 17%.....also fatty diet now definitely contributes to breast cancer. So if anyone needed an excuse to lose weight, including me, this sure is one.

Snewl

Thanks for the info. Will continue with flax even though I am ER+. You wouldn't happen to have a link to the study, would you?

Shirley

Rosemary44

I'd like to read the study too. It could be those mice are reaping all the benefits from healthy eating again.

BlindedByScience

Well, I found 4 lovely papers talking about the issue nearest to MY heart--whether flaxseed inhibits bc that's already growing as opposed to preventing its initial appearance.

And, Rosemary, darned if it wasn't the mice reaping all the benefits. The hope here is that the human cell lines the mice were developing tumors from were acting as they would in a human body. This cannot be assumed to be truly the same, but it does look promising.


# Wang, L et al (2005). "The inhibitory effect of flaxseed oil on the growth and metastasis of estrogen receptor negative human breast cancer xenografts is attributed to both its lignan and oil components". International Journal of Cancer 116 (5): 793-8. PMID 15849746.

# ^ Thompson, LU et al (2005). "Dietary flaxseed alters tumor biological markers in postmenopausal breast cancer". Clinical Cancer Research 11 (10): 3828-35. PMID 15897583.

# Chen, J et al (2004). "Dietary flaxseed enhances the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen on the growth of estrogen-dependent human breast cancer (mcf-7) in nude mice". Clinical Cancer Research 10 (22): 7703-11. PMID 15570004.

# ^ Chen, J et al (2002). "Dietary flaxseed inhibits human breast cancer growth and metastasis and downregulates expression of insulin-like growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptor". Nutrition and Cancer 43 (2): 187-92. PMID 12588699.

mkl48

It is easy to cure breast cancer in mice. The data rarely translates to humans. The jury is still out and until ER+ and Er_ or ER-Her+ are sorted out it seems dicey.

mkl48

The study that supports low fat diet continues to have its greatest impact on ER- women. ER+ may benefit more from weight loss and exercise just as did those in a colon cancer study. ER+ Bc and colon cancer have an association. Was the risk reduction for flax seed relative or absolute- see difference on BC.org

saluki

Okay, I know I spend alot of time in the outer limits because of my meds, so when I listen I sometimes get just bits and pieces but I thought what they said was a diet high in sugar
promotes breast cancer, pancreatic ca and another that escapes me.
Anyone clarify?

mkl48

The dietary high glycemic carb association with cancer is an ongoing question. It isn't a black or white answer and again may impact her+ or ER_ or + or pre and post men women differently.It is known that type 2 diabetics on the whole have a less positive BC outcome so that suggest insulin regulation in some way may be important. The Pet scan analogy is not the entire question. It sure can't hurt to lower high glycemic foods.Beth

Rosemary44

Wonders never cease. The study was done by the French, using 58,000 ladies over a 7 year period. It seems to work as a preventative. I have to read the full report cause it said the benefit was to those women who had high lignan intake. How high is high?

nancysmile

I once read that fat stored in the body produces estrogen which of course can promote breast cancer. Cows are fed hormones, we eat cows....get it? Only buy non-hormone foods. Notice labels on meats/chicken/eggs/milk, etc saying'no hormones or anti=biotics'.....I never heard flax seed can actually promote bc. I've heard soy but not flax. Best to eat healthy and exercise.....as usual - that's the only way......

CatMom4

Do you know if this would include products that have flax in them already, or is this comsuming raw flax seed?

I have celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and one of the safe grains I can eat is flax - it happens to me in my breakfast cereal.

Pat

lori1964

I was excited when I first read about Flaxseed until I seen that it may not be good for ER+ so I quit using it.

I decided to try to eat healthy like one of you already mentioned. I started Weight Watchers back in Jan. Isn't my first time doing WW, but I know this time is different because my life depends on it. I don't know if we will ever know what's good for us and what's not...

CatMom4

Hi Lori:

My surgeon told me "everything in moderation". There seem to be conflicting reports of what's good and not good to eat. I think trying to be sensible but letting yourself have some wine once in a while or have dessert or have red meat, etc. is the way to go. Not too much of anything I do believe that keeping one's weight under control and exercising are healthy anyway and of course even more so after a cancer diagnosis. Studies have shown exercise to reduce the risk of recurrence and it's been proven so good for us in general for our health.

I still eat my cereal with flax but don't buy flaxseed separately to eat with other foods.

Pat

lia77

Flax Seeds and Their Effect on Breast Cancer
San Francisco, CA, USA -- Canadian scientists say a common seed is proving uncommonly good at helping women battle breast cancer. Healthbeat team doctor Kim Mulvihill reports.
A new Canadian study shows the flax can significantly slow the rate of breast cancer cell growth.
"The scientific community is very interested in this study," says Dr. Paul Goss, Breast cancer researcher. "We have been bombarded by other investigators from around the world."
Researchers at the University of Toronto asked newly diagnosed breast cancer patients to eat two tablespoons of ground flaxseed each day. They then analyzed samples of their tumors before starting this treatment and 30 days after. They found that women taking the flaxseed slowed their rate of cancer cell growth by up to 33 percent compared to women not on flax. And there was nearly a 60 percent drop in the spread of the most aggressive cancer cells.
What's more, this nutritional treatment effect was equal to anti-cancer drugs like Tamoxofin.
"Flax seed is the first nutritional product that's been studied, that has actually produced hard scientific evidence," says Dr. Goss. Researchers think a fiber in the seeds may help sweep estrogen out of the body, blocking the hormone's ability to make tumors grow.
While this is just one piece of evidence, cancer support groups say it is very exciting news.
"There is a community out there who are hungry for this kind of information," says Sue Wright, Breast Cancer activist. "It won't bother them that it wasn't pharmaceutical. In fact, it might encourage them."
In fact, women have been eager to join other ongoing flax studies.
The researchers are now trying to raise funding for more studies to see if flax can help prevent breast cancer in the first place. This is not the first time flax has been shown to have health benefits. There are a number of studies showing it can help protect against heart disease. You can buy it in most health food stores.

good luck from Lialia

leaf

Does anyone have preferences/recommendations on grinding flax seed?
Would a hand blender do this?

katoMato

There is a product called Flax z Snax that I found locally in a health food store, and can order it on-line, but it's already ground. We have it everyday, just add hot water like oatmeal.

katymom

Is flaxseed good for ER+ breast cancer?

Katymom

LizM

From breastcancer.org

Flaxseed or Flaxseed Oil
Also known as: Linum usitatissimum, linseed.

Potential uses: It's thought that lignan in flaxseed may bind to estrogen receptors and may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Usual dose: 30 to 50 grams per day of flaxseed. It is sold as flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, or capsules of flaxseed oil.

Are there any risks? Women with a history of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer or other hormonal conditions should use flaxseed cautiously because it may act like a weak estrogen. Side effects include mild stomach distress and anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction).

What does the research show? Some studies have suggested it reduces cell growth. Flaxseed is likely safe for women with estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer, although its benefits have not been proven in clinical studies

http://www.breastcancer.org/tips/nutrition/supplements/known_suppl/flaxseed.jsp

francinehay

I have read it is better to eat the whole flax seed, the oil does not give as much protection for breast cancer. You have to be careful with the oil, or the already ground seeds as those products oxydise very quickly and then they're not good for you. They must be fresh and kept refrigerated. I use whole flax seed that I either grind in a Japanese suribachi grinder (like a pestle and mortar but the suribachi has little grooves that help grind faster) or I use a small hand grinder I bought recently, it is also a salt grinder, the mechanism is made out of ceramic. Found it in a health food shop. This way you only use what you need and the seeds don't oxidise, I keep my seeds and the grinder in the fridge. If you want to use the oil, you can also buy sof tcapsules of organic flax seed oil. Omega 3 (which is contained in flax seed oil and fish oil) is being currently researched in a study at the Black Dog Insitute in Sydney to treat depression.

francinehay

leaf

When I put in the seach term 'flax + breast cancer' in Pubmed, all the studies I could find in mice or humans were supportive of flax in breast cancer. However, the results you get are very sensitive to your specific search terms. But I couldn't find any negative studies on flax. I found one abstract that also opined they didn't locate any negative studies on flax for breast cancer, but I can't find that abstract.

The only article I couldn't tell had no abstract. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

In this study, flax was beneficial in ER negative breast cancer in mice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

and in this study it was beneficial for ER positive breast cancers in mice http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

It seemed to enhance the effect of tamoxifen in mice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez..._RVAbstractPlus

In this study, flax inhibited tumor mets, but not recurrance in mice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez..._RVAbstractPlus


and flax favorably altered biologic markers in breast cancers in postmenopausal women http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

This paper supports that flaxseed processing didn't change the lignan production in women, supporting the idea that maybe it doesn't have to be ground to have benefit. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez..._RVAbstractPlus However, this paper found milling *did* significantly improve enterolignans in humans http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

In this study in mice, they found benefits in both the lignan and oil components. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

I'm buying a small hand held multiuse grinder. I tried my hand blender, and it doesn't grind evenly. I haven't received it yet, so I don't know how well it will work.

I found whole organic golden flaxseed in bulk at a produce store.

My flaxseed consumption is going to really increase. It was close to zero before.
Leaf (LCIS + ALH, on tamoxifen)

leaf

I saw in the article that used postmenopausal women http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum that they used flax muffins containing 25gm of flaxseed.

I tried to find out approximately how much this is using my cooking tablespoon measurement and my postal scale.

I get that 30 grams (= 1 ounce) = about 3-4 tablespoonfulls. Is that about what other people get too? This is an awful lot of flax to fit into a muffin.
I wonder what recipie they used.

hi5

I find all this about flax very confusing. I am er+ and was under the impression that flax is not good. Is there any recent info. saying that is not correct? Thanks.

erika-canada

HI

I READ THE SAME IN A HEALTH MAGAZINE. NO FLAX FOR ER+??????? ANY OTHER OPINIONS, PLEASE!

HUGS,

Beesie

There have been some concerning (but not fully conclusive) studies that suggest that ER+ women shouldn't consume a lot of soy, and as a result, it's usually recommended that those of us who are ER+ avoid soy products. But although flax, like soy, is a phytoestrogen, the same hasn't been found for flax. Here are a couple more articles on flax:

http://www.providence.org/Oregon/Health_...ert_BRC_Soy.htm This one talks specifically to the question of whether there is possible harm from soy for ER+ women. It says no.

http://www.flaxhealth.com/breastcancerupdate.htm This one is interesting because it explains the possible reason for and significance of different results found in estrogen metabolism between women who consumed soy muffins vs. those who consumer flax muffins. This is the first article I've found that explains why soy, a phytoestrogen, might be bad for ER+ women, but flax, another phytoestrogen, might be good for ER+ women. This inconsistency in the findings on soy and flax had always confused me; if both are phytoestrogens, why weren't the study results more similar, with either both being potentially harmful or both being beneficial? In the study, while both soy and flax increased the amount of phytoestrogen found in the women's urine, it appears that the lignans in flax cause an increase in the amount of "less biologically active estrogen, 20HEl" rather than the more active estrogen, 16aOHEl. So it seems that soy consumption increases the amount of harmful estrogen while flax consumption increases the amount of beneficial estrogen. Cool finding, I think!

Yeah to the docs at U of T and Princess Margaret Hospital (my treatment center) for their work on this!

wallycat

I have also found studies that show that both flax and soy (genestein component) amply tamoxifen's efficacy ..especially in women whose tamoxifen has stopped working.

I have also read that soy works similar to tamoxifen in that it fits into the estrogen receptors and that blocks our real estrogen from being able to fit into the receptor. The soy phytoestrogens cannot turn on and be bioavailable, thus working like tamoxifen.

leaf

If you are curious, please feel free to do a Pubmed search on your own.
"PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 17 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=PubMed
As far as I know, Pubmed is the largest collection of scientific abstracts known (please correct me if I am wrong). It is sensitive to search words, so things can be missed. As far as know, it is the database that scientists would use. It does not contain many, if any, books.

Under the search term soy + tamoxifen:
This paper is not supportive of soy + tamoxifen in cell lines: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

This paper found no effect of soy on tamoxifen in Asian American women with bc http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

This paper seemed to suggest mixed results http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

____

As far as flaxseed goes, this paper says for many diseases, the jury is still out, and most of the studies were of poor quality. " Although flaxseed and flaxseed oil have several promising future uses, the available literature does not support recommendation for any condition at this time." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...Pubmed_RVDocSum

While you cannot tell from the abstract whether or not a scientific journal is peer reviewed or the funding source, most non-scientific magazines are not peer reviewed by scientists in the field or state their funding sources. Often times the lay press misinterprets data. There are also some scientific journals that are not very reputable either.

watergirl

I use an inexpensive small coffee grinder to grind mine each morning.  Quick and easy!

lkc

I eat a flaxseed muffin daily and also take flaxseed oil capsules!

I am er/pre neg,  her pos, and stage IIIC and  with all the reasearch I've done on this. I"ll continue

althea

I've been eating ground flaxseed for breakfast since last May.  Occasionally I'll deviate and eat something for breakfast I find more appealing.  I don't deviate for long though because it really helps things move through, if you know what I mean, and I've had difficulties in that area since I finished radiation/started tamoxifen.  More recently, I've learned that constipation can also be a sign of a thyroid imbalance, along with fatigue (my number one complaint for 2+ years now). 

It only takes a few days of skipping flaxseed that I begin to suffer, so I don't ever stay away from it for long.  I am also er/pr+ and am aware of cautions against flaxseed for us receptor positive ladies.  It's hard to know what information to follow.  For me, I haven't experienced any weight loss, and my cholesterol recently has been 220 and then 230, going in the wrong direction.  Again, elevated cholesterol can signify thyroid imbalance and I'm bent out of shape over the complete ABSENCE of help I'm getting from my medical professionals on this.  There I go digressing again.  

I eat about a quarter cup of flaxseed each day.  Inexpensive coffee grinders are available for about $10 and I purchased one just for my seeds.  Eating flaxseed whole will not yield much benefit, since they tend to pass through pretty much unscathed. The oil has a very short life once it's released, so grinding it fresh each day is the best choice as far as I know.  It take seconds to prepare.  I mix mine with yogurt.  

Makratz

Bump! 

How are you ladies doing now?  I find flax very interesting and promising.  Some of you ladies have been taking flax for a couple years, perhaps more.  Do you see any health benefits?  Let me now how it's been going for you.

BTW, I use milled flax seed and keep it refridgerated. 

Makratz

bump......anyone still out there??