Researchers at the University of Illinois reported in Gynecologic Oncology that hens fed a flaxseed-enriched diet for one year had a significantly lower rate of late-stage ovarian tumors than a control group that did not have the enriched diet. However, the hens fed the flaxseed-enriched diet did not have a lower incidence of ovarian cancer than the control group. These results are important because currently most women are stage 3 or 4 when diagnosed with ovarian cancer and “metastases that accompany late stage ovarian cancer are the main cause of death from the disease.” Thus, there is currently a high death rate from ovarian cancer. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of flaxseed in inhibiting the formation of colon, breast, skin, and lung cancer and testing flaxseed for ovarian cancer was a next step. These finding should lead to clinical trials with flaxseed as a chemosuppressant of ovarian cancer in women.
