Thoughts on Flax Seed consumption?

kec1972

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering what everyone does about consuming flax seeds? Is it one of those things like soy that women with hormone positive BC are encouraged to avoid? Or do flax seeds have a protective effect? I seem to be reading conflicting advice on the internet.

Rah2464

My MO suggested utilizing mskcc.org , which is run by Memorial Sloane Kettering and has information on a tremendous amount of herbs and vitamins. Flax Seed is listed there as being phytoestrogenic, meaning those of us with hormone receptive cancer need to discuss its use with our MO. Mine is fine with me taking two tablespoons a day in my oatmeal. But I am on Tamoxifen. Maybe if I wasn't on that she would feel differently I just don't know.

kec1972

Rah, thanks for that website. I’ll check it out

Husband11

There is no definitive answer on this question. There was some research done in Canada, where they gave women with breast cancer flax seed muffins for some time before their surgery. The cells in the excised tumor were compared to the prior biopsy. The women who got the flax seed muffins showed some markers of lower metabolic activity in the breast cancer cells. No more research was done, and the University researcher in charge of the study joined one of the pharmaceutical companies to research drugs, not flax seeds.

Limitations on this small study: It was for a limited time frame, and no long term conclusions can be drawn from it.

Among the questions that remain unanswered, is whether flax seed is estrogenic in the sense that it promotes growth in HR positive breast cancer, or is it estrogen like in a similar manner to tamoxifen, in that it may estrogenic in some tissue, such as the uterus, and block estrogen in breast cancer cells. That's one of the very tricky things about estrogen like substances, slight differences in their structure can have radically different results in living tissue.

https://www.oncologynutrition.org/on/erfc/healthy-nutrition-now/foods/flaxseeds-and-breast-cancer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1061885.stm

Martha615

I can't understand why flax seeds would be a problem. They have more lignans than any other food and, if I understand correctly, are phytoestrogens that attach to oestrogen receptors, and studies show they inhibit the growth of cancer cells. While I can understand people assuming flax seed won't help I personally take flax seed for a number of reasons, including the value of the lignans, omega 3 and roughage.

There are a lot of studies that favour lignans for those trying to avoid recurrence of breast cancer. Here's an extract from one:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5808339/"In several experimental studies, diets including 5 or 10% of flaxseed (approximately 25–30 g of flaxseed daily, in humans) inhibited the growth of the ER+ in human breast cancer cells injected in mice. The same happened with the growth of the ER−. Flaxseed also reduced the metastasis of ER− breast tumor.

During clinical trials, researchers have concluded that flaxseed has the potential to reduce the growth of tumors in patients with breast cancer, mainly postmenopausal women, and decrease the risk of this type of cancer.

Although many of the studies reported in this paper concluded that flaxseed intake may be related to the decreased risk of breast cancer and also to the reduction of the tumor's growth and size, some studies including premenopausal and postmenopausal women did not show the same results."

This quote relates to another study: "A prospective cohort study, including 58,049 postmenopausal French women, found that those with the highest lignan ingestion (>1,395 μg/day) had a significantly decreased risk of breast cancer. The beneficial effects of lignans in this study were limited to ER+ breast cancer and progesterone receptor positive." That study can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC22928...

moth

you might be interested in this https://foodforbreastcancer.com/foods/flaxseed

fwiw, I have about 1 Tbsp flaxseed on my oatmeal every morning. I use Northern Edge brand which is organic & grown in a part of Canada where there is no cadmium in the soil.

kec1972

Thanks for the tip Moth. I had no idea about the cadmium! I just ordered from Northern Edge as well :

Pamela23

Lignans in flaxseed help protect against breast cancer and prolongs survival. I LOVE this website. Dr. Gregor takes research and puts them in layman's terms through his videos. Search the site for breast cancer and there's a TON of info.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/breast-cancer-sur...

MelissaDallas

From Memorial Sloan Kettering's supplement site (For Physicians)

Because flaxseed has phytoestrogenic effects, patients with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer should use flaxseed with caution.

It also says you should also not take it if you are having radiological studies because it can interfere with readings

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/flaxseed

kec1972

I’ve read about a lot of studies that show that flax has s protective effect in post menopausal BC survivors, but what about premenopausal? Does it have the same effect for us? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer.

Totallytubular

I stay away from flaxseeds for their potential estrogenic activity. I have a whole bag in the fridge.. because I thought they would be helpful but MSK says no to these lignans. wishing you luck.

Totallytubular

I stay away from flaxseeds for their potential estrogenic activity. I have a whole bag in the fridge.. because I thought they would be helpful but MSK says no to these lignans. wishing you luck.

WC3

I saw a nutritionist at my cancer center who advise me to stay away from flax seeds themselves as my cancer was ER+ and they are estrogenic, but recomnended lignan free flax seed oil.

The problem with flax seed oil is that it goes rancid fast. Fresh flax seed oil should have a mild, nutty/sunflower seed taste. Rancid flax seed oil tastes burnt and bitter. It can easily be obtained fresh in the U.K. as it's produced there but most brands I have tried in the U.S. are rancid off the shelf. I've had the best luck with the Wholefood's brand but they have not carried the lignan free kind recently.

I'm highly suspicious of Solgar brand flaxseed oil. It had no taste initially, which was odd. It's bottled with a layer of nitrogen which helps preserve flax seed oil by protecting it from oxidation but I think enough oxygen should have gotten in the bottle as I was pouring it that it should have eventually gone rancid after a few months and take on the burnt and bitter taste and it did not. It ended up tasting like stale canola oil. I suspect it might be.

I guess it could just really be that pure but I would rather have some indication that the oil I'm using is really flax seed oil.

honeybair

After reading about studies done on flaxseed consumption, my conclusion is that flaxseed consumption is safe for post menopausal women so I eat two tablespoons per day as part of my ketogenic breakfast.