COLON CANCER

The other day, I got a phone call from a British gentleman who was in search of some flaxseed. I agreed to meet with him at our local golf course café. He shared with me that he was newly diagnosed with colon cancer and had been on the Internet researching the subject. Of course, he found the scientific studies conducted by Dr. Budwig and her positive conclusions about the use of flaxseed.

Colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death and it has been firmly linked to low-fiber diets.

Flaxseed is valuable to curbing colon cancer because it contains both insoluble and soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber lessens the incidence of colon cancer and rectal cancer by binding bile acids as well as by increasing stool bulk and speeding transit time.

Soluble fiber lowers serum cholesterol levels, nourishes favorable bacteria, slows the rate of sugar entering the circulatory system, and binds heavy metals.

There are testimonials all over the Internet for colon cancer and the use of flaxseed. Lignans are plant-based compounds that can shrink colon cancer tumors and stop new ones from getting started.

Many plant foods have some lignans, but flaxseed has at least 75 times more than any other.  To get the lignans that are in just 1/4 cup of flaxseed, you'd need to eat about 60 cups of fresh broccoli - or 100 slices of whole wheat bread. 

Users are aware of how the lignans, found in flaxseed, contain powerful anti-cancer fighting agents. They also have anti-fungal, antibacterial and anti-viral properties, which help out.

In a study, first reported in the July issue of Urology  Magazine in 2001, a Dr. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues - studied 25 patients with prostate cancer who were about to undergo a prostatectomy. The patients were placed on a diet in which only 20% of total calories came from fat. In addition, patients received 30 g/day of ground flaxseed.

Over an average of 34 days, the subjects experienced a significant decrease in mean total testosterone, free androgen index and serum cholesterol. In addition, men who had a Gleason sum score of 6 or less before starting the diet showed a trend toward decreased PSA.

When the investigators looked at the prostates after prostatectomy, they found that prostate cancer cells were dividing much less rapidly and were self-destructing much more quickly in the treatment subjects compared with matched controls.

Dr. Demark-Wahnefried said that in cell-culture studies in which prostate cancer cells were exposed to the lignans from flaxseed, they found significant decreases in cell growth. “It looks like these lignans may be responsible for the results we saw,”  she added.  “If there is a synergistic effect [with] the low-fat diet portion of the diet, it is unknown at this time.”

NOTE: Flax seed oil contains practically no lignans, so you must eat digestible milled flaxseed. Flax oil also is missing many of the nutrients needed to digest the lignans.

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