Preventing Ovarian Cancer -- With Chickens
It was a carton of omega 3 enriched eggs at the grocery store that set Dale B. Hales, Ph.D., scouring the scientific literature. Omega 3 enriched eggs are produced from feeding hens a diet high in flaxseed, a rich source of omega 3 fats. Dr. Hales, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, found numerous studies on the health benefits of omega 3s for humans. There was even a fair amount of research on how omega 3s affect egg color and shell strength.
“But what was missing,” said Dr. Hales, speaking at a National Institutes of Health symposium, “was anything on the health of the chickens themselves. What’s the chemopreventive effect of flaxseed on ovarian cancer? That’s what I wanted to find out. The development of ovarian cancer in hens closely mirrors that of people, so studying the effect of hens’ diet on cancer incidence and progression will provide important findings,” he said.
Currently, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women largely because the symptoms are hard to detect in the early stages. By the time most women are diagnosed, the cancer is in the late stages and has spread.
Flax Food: To the Hen Yard
With AICR funding, Dr. Hales and his colleagues are now completing a pilot study investigating the effects of flaxseed on ovarian cancer in hens. They fed one group of hens a 20 percent flaxseed-enriched diet for one year and compared cancer incidence and cell effects in the enriched-diet group to the standard-diet fed hens.
One finding points to the role flaxseed may play in slowing the growth of ovarian tumors. The severity of the cancers was significantly lower in the flaxseed-fed hens compared to hens fed a typical diet. “At the end of the year, 61 percent of the controls had high-grade ovarian tumors versus 43 percent of the flaxseed group,” said Dr. Hales. “This was an unexpected but very exciting finding.” Cancer incidence was also lower in the flaxseed-fed group but the difference was not high enough to be significant.
Moreover, the scientists found that after one year the flaxseed-fed hens had an overall lower mortality rate than the conventional diet-munching group. Sixteen percent fewer flaxseed-fed hens died during the study compared to the controls.
The Omegas and Inflammation
In order to unravel how flaxseed affected the hens’ cancer development and overall health, Dr. Hales and his colleagues are analyzing over 700 cell and tissue samples.
One set of signs they are looking for relates to inflammation, which is strongly associated with many cancers. “Ovulation has all the hallmarks of inflammation,” says Dr. Hales. “In ovulation there are tears and repairs to the surface of the ovary; it’s undergoing constant remodeling. This can result in mutations, which may lead to cancer.” For example, the research team is measuring the levels of COX-1 in diseased hens, both flaxseed and non-flaxseed fed (see chart). COX-1 is an enzyme that plays a role in increasing the production of inflammatory substances (prostaglandins).
Previous research has found that the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats may affect the activity of COX enzymes, along with the production of other substances. COX levels increase with diets that contain too much omega 6. Omega 6 fats are found in common vegetable oils (corn, safflower, sunflower). Along with flaxseed, omega 3s are found in fatty fish and walnuts. The typical American diet is far heavier in omega 6s than omega 3s, with a ratio of ten or thirty times more omega 6s, notes Dr. Hales. A healthy ratio is 3 to 5 times as many omega 6s as omega 3s.
Dr. Hales and his colleagues are also measuring signs of oxidative stress, abnormal cell growth, DNA damage, and genetic changes.
Healthy Pecking in the Early Years
The findings emerging from the study have prompted Dr. Hales to begin a more comprehensive investigation. In the pilot study, the hens were all over two years old, equal to the approximate reproductive age of menopausal women (they have ovulated about the same number of times). Consuming flaxseed early in life may have a more significant effect, says Dr. Hales, because by the time the hens started eating flaxseed they may have undergone too much cell and DNA damage.
The new study will start feeding flaxseed to 600 hens that are less than a year old and just beginning to lay eggs. The study will span four years and include three different amounts of flaxseed in the diet.
Dr. Hales is also starting another study with hens and ovarian cancer incidence, this time with broccoli. (Yes, assures Dr. Hales, hens will eat broccoli. “They will eat pretty much anything.”) Rich in sulforaphane, the cruciferous vegetable has become linked with cancer protective properties. The study will investigate if broccoli affects ovarian cancer incidence and measure if it decreases the estrogen byproducts that are elevated in ovarian cancer.
Research on diet and ovarian cancer prevention is still in an early phase, says Dr. Hales. In the future, he hopes to determine how plant foods, such as flaxseed, can strengthen cancer therapy or prevent cancer. Right now, “we know it’s a good idea to eat flaxseed and broccoli anyway, so why not include them in your diet?”
You can read more about omega 3 and the different types of fats in The Facts about Fats.
Labels: ovarian cancer + inflamation+Flax Oil + Broccoli
By Allison Kaplan Sommer
April 02, 2006
A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.
At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the Sharon region, couldn’t understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass.
It turned out that their doctors had sent them.
“They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments,” Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. “And this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.”
It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
The research team was led by Dr. Rivka Ofir and Prof. Yakov Weinstein, incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell-Differentiation and Malignant Diseases, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at BGU.
Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), melissa (Melissa officinalis) and verbena (Verbena officinalis).
According to Ofir, the study found that citral causes cancer cells to “commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell death.” A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.
The BGU investigators checked the influence of the citral on cancerous cells by adding them to both cancerous cells and normal cells that were grown in a petri dish. The quantity added in the concentrate was equivalent to the amount contained in a cup of regular tea using one gram of lemon herbs in hot water. While the citral killed the cancerous cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.
The findings were published in the scientific journal Planta Medica, which highlights research on alternative and herbal remedies. Shortly afterwards, the discovery was featured in the popular Israeli press.
Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists have a theory.
“In each cell in our body, there is a genetic program which causes programmed cell death. When something goes wrong, the cells divide with no control and become cancer cells. In normal cells, when the cell discovers that the control system is not operating correctly - for example, when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic material following cell division - it triggers cell death,” explains Weinstein. “This research may explain the medical benefit of these herbs.”
The success of their research led them to the conclusion that herbs containing citral may be consumed as a preventative measure against certain cancerous cells.
As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needed to be explored further, in the meantime it would be advisable for their patients, who were looking for any possible tool to fight their condition, to try to harness the cancer-destroying properties of citral.
That’s why Zabidov’s farm - the only major grower of fresh lemon grass in Israel - has become a pilgrimage destination for these patients. Luckily, they found themselves in sympathetic hands. Zabidov greets visitors with a large kettle of aromatic lemon grass tea, a plate of cookies, and a supportive attitude.
“My father died of cancer, and my wife’s sister died young because of cancer,” said Zabidov. “So I understand what they are dealing with. And I may not know anything about medicine, but I’m a good listener. And so they tell me about their expensive painful treatments and what they’ve been through. I would never tell them to stop being treated, but it’s great that they are exploring alternatives and drinking the lemon grass tea as well.”
more...Labels: lemon grass+cancer cells + die
This is interesting news. The Budwig Cancer diet has been promoting flax for many years now.
(NaturalNews) Flax oil and flax seeds have been shown to lower blood cholesterol and triglycerides, and to help reduce damage to cell membranes. Flax is also important in the body's ability to reduce inflammation and prevent the many degenerative diseases associated with it. Studies have shown that women with a high intake of flax oil and flax lignans are at much lower risk of developing breast cancer. Research is now documenting the benefits of flax oil, lignans, and flax meal in preventing and treating cancer in the gastrointestinal tract and colon, and breast cancer metastasis.
Recent studies and results
In a study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology researchers noted that flax seed oil and flax seed meal are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Their objective was to investigate the feeding of flax seed oil and flax meal to groups of rats with induced precursors of colon cancer. These precursors form in the lining of the colon and rectum prior to the appearance of colorectal polyps.
The groups of rats were fed either a controlled diet alone, controlled diet plus soybean oil, controlled diet plus flax oil, or controlled diet plus flax meal. The rats were examined after 17 weeks. Those fed the flax seed oil and the flax seed meal showed reduced incidence of colon cancer precursor by 84% and 87.5% respectively. Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity rates were significantly higher in the rats fed flax seed oil and flax seed meal compared to those fed soybean oil. The enzymes in GST play a significant role in the detoxification of such substances as carcinogens, therapeutic drugs, and products of oxidative stress.
In the Journal of Nutrition and Cancer researchers note that fatty acid composition of dietary fat plays a vital role in colon tumor development in animal models. Fats containing omega-3 fatty acids, such as flax oil, and those containing omega-6 fats, such as corn oil, reduced chemically induced colon tumor development in rats. Lignans have also been shown to prevent colon tumor development in animal studies. These researchers investigated the effects of dietary flaxseed meal, a source of both omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, on colon tumor development and compared them with the effects of dietary corn meal.
One group of cancer induced rats ate a controlled diet supplemented with corn meal, while another ate the controlled diet supplemented with flaxseed meal. After 35 weeks, the gastrointestinal tract was isolated, and the site, size, and number of tumors were recorded and the tumors were evaluated. Tumor incidence in the corn meal group was 82.6% vs. 29.4% in the flax meal group. Tumor multiplicity was 1.3 for the corn meal group vs. 0.3 for the flax meal group. And tumor size was 44.4 mm for the corn meal group vs. 5.3 mm for the flax meal group. Researchers attributed these amazing statistics to the increased omega-3 fatty acids levels ingested by the flax meal group.
A third study, from the International Journal of Cancer reports that previous studies have shown dietary flax seed was able to reduce the growth and metastasis of human estrogen receptor negative breast cancer in mice. Researchers for this study sought to determine whether the tumor inhibitory effect of flaxseed was due to its oil, lignan secoisolariciresinol diglycoside (SDG), or both, and whether the effect on tumor growth was related to increased oxidative degradation of lipids.
Rats were injected with estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells and after 8 weeks were fed either the basal diet, or basal diet supplemented with flax seeds, SDG, flax oil, or a combination.
Compared to the basal diet group, the tumors in all supplemented groups showed decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis. These results did not significantly relate to lipid peroxidation. Lung metastasis incidence was reduced by 16 to 70 percent by all treatments, and most significantly in the flax seed, SDG, and flax oil groups. Distant lymph node metastasis was significantly decreased (52%) only in the flax oil group. Total metastasis incidence was lowered significantly (42%) only in the SDG plus flax oil group.
What these studies may mean for you
The studies show both flax oil and flax meal to be highly effective against cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and colon. Flax oil was clearly the most effective at preventing lymph node metastasis, while the impact on total body metastasis was greatest when SDG, the active compound from lignans, was included with flax oil.
It is the omega-3 fatty acids in flax that are the active agents producing these results. Omega-3 fatty acids are electron rich, and are able to enter the cells to provide them with the electrical energy needed for the healthy completion of cellular processes.
Our bodies produce over 500 million new cells daily. When these cells divide, the old cell and the new cell must contain enough electron rich fatty acids to divide off completely from each other. When this process is not completed due to a lack of electron rich highly unsaturated fat, the course of growth and division is altered and the maturing and shedding process is never fully completed. This may lead to the formation of tumors.
Unless you frequently eat omega-3 rich foods such as salmon or walnuts, supplementing your diet with lignan rich flax oil may be one of the best choices for your health that you ever make.
Using flax oil
Flax oil is highly unstable and begins to oxidize quickly after processing. If you are going to use flax oil, you will want only the freshest, best quality organic oil. Fresh flax oil has a nutty taste that is good. Although results from study number three indicate that even when the oil has oxidized it will still do its job in the body, most health experts say that any oil that does not taste good is oil you should not use. Any trace of bitterness means the oil is oxidizing.
Most flax oil on the market is rancid to some degree, particularly the capsules. Taste one and you will be appalled. The maker of the capsules is counting on you swallowing them whole and never tasting the rancid oil that is in them. Oil that is bought from a drugstore, supermarket, or discount center is usually quite oxidized and bitter. Even house brands from online supplement stores are usually oxidized. Just because it's organic doesn't mean it isn't rancid.
There are two brands which produce organic flax oil that is usually fresh and good-tasting. These are Spectrum and Barleans. Spectrum is the more consistent of the two brands. These oils are available at health food stores, and grocery stores that cater to the health conscious. They are sold in the refrigerator section, and should be refrigerated again immediately after purchase.
If you do not have access to these oils where you live, they can be ordered from the online supplement stores. When it's relatively cold outside, the oil can be shipped to you without a problem. In the warm months or if you live in a place where it is warm all year, you will need to have them shipped in a cold pack. Not all online stores offer cold packs, but several do.
Taste the oil when you bring it home or have it delivered. If it does not taste fresh and good, if you detect bitterness, return it or call the online store and ask for a refund. Retailers seem to be quite used to people returning rancid flax oil, and they will give you a refund or replacement.
The amount of oil you need per day to keep yourself healthy is one tablespoon for each 100 pounds of body weight. If you have had cancer and are trying to prevent a recurrence you may want to double that amount. If you are actively fighting cancer or other serious disease, you will need to take the oil throughout the day, building up to an amount of 8 ounces or more as you are able to tolerate it.
Never heat flax oil. Always shake the bottle before using.
Using flax lignans
Spectrum and Barleans as well as others produce flax oil with lignans added. They usually settle to the bottom requiring you to give the bottle a hard shaking every time you use it.
If you don't want to take flax oil with lignans but want to get the benefits of lignans, you can get one of the capsule forms on the market containing SDG. The best known of these is Brevail, made by the Barleans company. There are others that are equally as effective.
Learn more about lignans at (http://www.naturalnews.com/022625.html) .
Labels: flax +oil+effective+against+cancers+colon+breast
