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Health News Archive 648 - Prostate Cancer
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Flaxseed Arrests Prostate Tumor Growth

The results of research presented on June 2, 2007 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago found that consuming flaxseed can help arrest the growth of tumors of the prostate gland.

The study involved men scheduled for removal of the prostate due to prostate cancer. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center assigned four groups of approximately 40 patients each to receive a low fat diet, a low fat diet supplemented with 30 grams ground flaxseed daily, an unsupplemented normal diet, or a normal diet combined with 30 grams ground flaxseed per day for one month prior to surgery.

Men in both groups that received flaxseed were found to have the slowest rate of tumor growth when the prostate tumors were examined following surgery. The omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed are believed to halt the cellular activity that leads to cancer growth and spread by modifying the ability of cancer cells to clump together or adhere to other cells. Lignans from flaxseed might also help inhibit the ability of tumors to form new blood vessels.

"Our previous studies in animals and in humans had shown a correlation between flaxseed supplementation and slowed tumor growth, but the participants in those studies had taken flaxseed in conjunction with a low-fat diet," commented lead researcher Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD of Duke's School of Nursing. "For this study, we demonstrated that it is flaxseed that primarily offers the protective benefit. The results showed that the men who took just flaxseed as well as those who took flaxseed combined with a low-fat diet did the best, indicating that it is the flaxseed which is making the difference," she explained.

"We are excited that this study showed that flaxseed is safe and associated with a protective effect on prostate cancer," Dr Demark-Wahnefried added.

Reprinted with exclusive permission of Life Extension

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