Eating a diet rich in flaxseeds can help cut the risk of dying from breast cancer later in life by 40 per cent, a new study has claimed.
Researchers at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg found that foods including seeds, vegetables and wheat contain special plant compounds, called phytoestrogens, which kill off cancer cells and prevent secondary tumours by stopping the growth of new blood vessels.
Among the most important phytoestrogens are the lignans which are found abundantly in flaxseeds, the researchers said.
Once in the body, they said, these phytoestrogens attach to female sex hormone oestrogen and are though to help protect against cancer, the Daily Mail reported.
For their study, the researchers analysed blood samples of over 1,000 women diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer over a three year period.
They found that women with higher levels of enterolactone in their blood had their mortality rate dramatically reduced by two fifths compared to women with the lowest levels of the same substance.
The results, published in Journal of Clinical Oncology, also showed that high levels of enterolactone also protected against the spread of cancer and secondary tumours.
The researchers claimed phytoestrogens helped curtail cancer both because of its hormonal properties, as well as by killing off cancer cells and preventing the growth of new blood vessels.
Professor Jenny Chang-Claude, who led the study, said: .
“We now have first clear evidence showing that lignans lower not only the risk of developing postmenopausal breast cancer, but also the mortality risk.
“The result was significant only for the group of tumours that have no receptor for the estrogen hormone (ER-negative tumors). This gives reason to suspect that enterolactone protects from cancer not only by its hormone-like effect.”
According to the researchers, the study also gave a clue as to why Asian women are less frequently affected by breast cancer. Their soy-rich diet contains large amounts of another type of phytoestrogens called isoflavones.
Professor Chang-Claude said past studies of cells and animals had already provided evidence suggesting that the substance also has an influence on cancer growth irrespective of oestrogen.
“Thus, it promotes cell death and inhibits sprouting of new blood vessels,” she said.
“By eating a diet that is rich in wholemeal products, seeds and vegetables, which is considered to be health-promoting anyway, everybody can take in enough lignans,” she added.
