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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

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