Plant hormones: cancer protection?
Lignans are a type of fiber, and at the same time a type of phytoestrogen–a chemical similar to the human hormone estrogen. Flaxseeds are the richest source of lignans. When you eat lignans, bacteria in the digestive tract convert them into estrogen-like substances called enterodiol and enterolactone, which are thought to have anti-tumor effects. Lignans and other flaxseed components may also have antioxidant properties–that is, they may reduce the activity of cell-damaging free radicals. (Flaxseed oil lacks lignans, but some processors add them to their oil.) Recently small studies of cancer patients who consumed flax-seeds have produced some encouraging results. In one study men with prostate cancer who ate an ounce of ground flaxseeds (almost three tablespoons) a day as part of a very-low-fat diet were able to slow the progress of their cancers between the time they were diagnosed and the time of surgery. A similar study of women awaiting surgery for breast cancer found that those
