Researchers from Duke University Medical Center reported on the 3rd that adding flaxseed to the diet of prostate cancer patients can effectively slow the proliferation of prostate cancer cells.
Flaxseed is rich in OMEGA-3 fatty acids. Medical research suggests that this component can influence cell signaling and cell membrane formation, thereby reducing cell proliferation. Additionally, flaxseed contains high levels of lignans, which can bind with hormones like testosterone and estrogen, preventing these hormones from promoting the proliferation of cancer cells.
They selected a total of 161 men with prostate cancer and randomly divided them into four groups. Approximately 30 days later, all patients underwent prostatectomy. Researchers performed a pathological analysis of the resected tissue, with the most critical indicator being the proliferation rate of prostate cancer cells—a lower rate indicating slower cancer cell proliferation. The results showed that the proliferation rate was 2.38 in the normal diet control group, 2.93 in the low-fat diet group, 1.71 in the flaxseed-supplemented group, and 1.58 in the group that consumed both flaxseed and a low-fat diet. This indicates that the two groups taking flaxseed had a significantly lower rate of cancer cell proliferation compared to the other two groups.