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> " HSI - Jenny Thompson "

> <HSIResearch

 

> Secret in the Seed

> Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:11:51 -0400

>

> Secret in the Seed

>

> Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

>

> August 23, 2004

>

>

************************************************************

 

>

> Dear Reader,

>

> The dangers of prostate cancer are widely reported.

> And for most HSI

> members, the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are

> well known. Now a new

> study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) shows

> that prostate

> cancer prevention may be one of the most important

> items on the list

> of omega-3 benefits.

>

> But it was another detail in this study that really

> caught my

> attention: the confirmation that a nutrient that's

> beneficial for most

> of us may actually increase the risk of pushing

> prostate cancer to an

> advanced stage.

>

>

---------------------------

>

> Omega-3s to the rescue

>

---------------------------

>

>

> In the July issue of the American Journal of

> Clinical Nutrition, NCI

> researchers report on their examination of dietary

> and medical records

> of more than 47,800 men, aged 40 to 75, with no

> cases of cancer

> diagnosed at the outset.

>

> After following the subjects for 14 years, 2,965 of

> the subjects had

> developed prostate cancer, and more than 440 of

> these cases were

> advanced. The NCI team analyzed the dietary data,

> giving particular

> emphasis to intakes of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty

> acids, and

> alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a precursor of omega-3

> fatty acids. The

> results:

>

> * Dietary intake of EPA and DHA was associated with

> lower risk of

> prostate cancer.

>

> * The highest intake of combined EPA and DHA was

> associated with more

> than 10 percent lower overall prostate cancer risk,

> compared to the

> lowest intake of EPA and DHA.

>

> * Advanced prostate cancer risk was more than 25

> percent lower among

> those with the highest EPA and DHA intake.

>

> The ALA results were mixed. Among men who reported

> only moderate

> intake of ALA, there was no association with a risk

> of prostate cancer

> overall. But for the men who developed prostate

> cancer and also had

> the highest level of ALA intake, the risk of their

> cancer developing

> to an advanced stage was sharply increased.

>

> The highest intake of non-animal sources of ALA was

> associated with

> twice the risk of advanced prostate cancer, compared

> to the highest

> intake of animal sources of ALA.

>

>

---------------------------

>

> Beneficial seed

>

---------------------------

>

>

> In several e-Alerts I've told you about the

> importance of eating

> plenty of foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, found

> primarily in fish

> (such as salmon and mackerel), flaxseed, walnuts,

> wheat germ, and fish

> oil.

>

> Good sources of alpha-linolenic acid include

> flaxseed, walnuts, dark

> green leafy vegetables, and meat, as well as oils

> such as flaxseed,

> linseed, rapeseed, and mustard oil. Research has

> shown that ALA may

> help promote blood vessel resiliency, while slowing

> and perhaps even

> preventing the growth of breast and colon cancer. So

> while most ALA

> foods provide excellent nutrition, one ALA source in

> particular should

> be avoided by men who are at risk of prostate

> cancer: flaxseed oil.

>

> Flaxseed contains lignans, a fiber and phytoestrogen

> with a chemical

> makeup similar to human estrogen. And because

> lignans are believed to

> help remove testosterone from the body, they may

> assist in suppressing

> the growth of prostate cancer cells. But the lignans

> in flaxseed are

> concentrated in the outer shell of the seeds. So

> when the seeds are

> refined into oil, only a trace of the lignans ends

> up in the finished

> product. This process dramatically increases the

> concentration of ALA.

>

> Flaxseed and flaxseed oil both have a very high

> omega-3 content and an

> excellent balance of omega-3 to omega-6. A

> tablespoon of flaxseed oil

> contains approximately 8 grams of omega-3 fatty

> acids, but only 2.2

> grams of omega-6. No other oil comes close to this

> beneficial balance.

>

> So... bottom line: Most men will not have problems

> with normal ALA

> intake; in fact, it will do them good. But for those

> with an elevated

> risk of prostate cancer, large quantities of ALA

> foods (especially

> flaxseed oil) should be avoided.

>

>

---------------------------

>

> The E team

>

---------------------------

>

>

> No discussion of prostate cancer prevention would be

> complete without

> a mention of two key nutrients: vitamin E and

> selenium.

>

> In the e-Alert " Taking Yourself Off the List "

> (4/22/04), I told you

> about a trial of 300 middle-aged men in Finland.

> Those who took a

> vitamin E supplement for more than five years

> reduced their prostate

> cancer risk by almost a third, compared to men who

> didn't supplement

> with the vitamin. And risk dropped even further for

> those who also ate

> foods rich in vitamin E (including almonds, spinach,

> mustard greens,

> green and red peppers and sunflower seeds).

>

> And in the e-Alert " Trace Mineral Key to Preventing

> Prostate Cancer "

> (12/5/01), a Stanford University study demonstrated

> that men with low

> blood levels of selenium may be four to five times

> more likely to

> develop prostate cancer than men with normal levels

> of the mineral.

> The study also confirmed that selenium levels

> decrease as men age –

> mirroring the fact that prostate risk steadily rises

> as men age.

>

> Besides the fact that selenium has excellent

> antioxidant properties

> that have been shown to help increase insulin

> efficiency, selenium

> also enhances the effect of vitamin E, making it a

> perfect match for

> any vitamin E regimen designed to help prevent

> prostate cancer. Foods

> that contain selenium include fruits and vegetables

> (if grown in

> selenium-rich soil), beef, tuna, turkey, chicken,

> eggs and whole wheat

> bread. Brazil nuts contain more selenium than any

> other food: 840 mcg

> of selenium per ounce.

>

>

************************************************************

 

>

> ...and another thing

>

> To soy or not to soy... that is the question.

>

> In the e-Alert " Staking Their Claim " (8/20/04), I

> told you about some

> of the pros and cons of soy, which reminded me of an

> e-mail I had in

> my file from an HSI member named Geoffrey, who wants

> to know about

> some alternatives to both milk and soy:

>

> " How does soy 'milk' stack up? Since cow milk is not

> recommended, do I

> go to rice 'milk'? "

>

> There are four alternatives to cow milk and soy

> milk: rice, almond,

> oat and multi-grain. Unfortunately, none of them are

> entirely free

> from concern. Rice milk, for example, has higher

> sugar content than

> soy milk. Some brands of almond milk contain corn

> syrup or brown rice

> syrup. Depending on your tolerance level for sugars,

> they may prove to

> be a better alternative. Still, you should read the

> ingredients

> carefully.

> But when Geoffrey refers to " cow milk, " the type

> that's not

> recommended is the highly refined milk that lines

> the shelves of

> grocery stores. Raw milk – taken from free range

> cows, unhomogenized

> and unpasteurized – is the healthiest milk

> available. HSI Panelist

> Allan Spreen, M.D., explains:

>

> " Pasteurized, homogenized milk does not qualify as

> food in my opinion.

> Even skim milk is homogenized (it's too much trouble

> to not send it

> through the same machinery), and the homogenization

> process breaks up

> an enzyme (xanthine oxidase), which in its altered

> (smaller) state can

> enter the bloodstream and react against arterial

> walls, causing the

> body to protect the area with a layer of

> cholesterol.

>

> " Pasteurization also destroys enzymes through its

> heating process. The

> skimming process makes the remaining nutrients more

> difficult to

> absorb. For one thing, the calcium is better

> absorbed in the presence

> of milk fat (though the high amount of fat in whole

> milk is for

> very-fast-growing baby cows, not baby people).

>

> " The politics of running the certified raw milk

> dairies out of

> business is as sickening as the 'modern' milk we're

> now forced to

> drink. It was consistently shown that there were

> fewer bacteria in raw

> milk than the pasteurized variety! The problem is,

> it takes far more

> care and procedural hassle to pull it off, and the

> 'big boys' weren't

> into that. That's why the wonderful, certified raw

> milk from Alta

> Dena, Mathis, and other dairies is a thing of the

> past. "

>

> Unfortunately, whole raw milk from pasture-fed cows

> is quickly

> disappearing from the American scene. In fact, the

> milk industry has

> effectively cut off almost all sales of raw milk. It

> can still be

> purchased directly from some local dairy farmers,

> but its illegal to

> sell raw milk in stores throughout the U.S., except

> in California,

> Connecticut and New Mexico.

>

> You can find out more information about the benefits

> and availability

> of raw milk products through A Campaign for Real

> Milk (realmilk.com).

>

> To Your Good Health,

>

> Jenny Thompson

> Health Sciences Institute

>

>

************************************************************

>

 

>

> Sources:

>

> " Dietary Intake of N-3 and N-6 fatty Acids and the

> Risk of Prostate

> Cancer " American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol.

> 80, No. 1, July

> 2004, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

> " Omega-3s Appear to Protect Against Prostate Cancer "

> NutraIngredients.com, 6/23/04, nutraingredients.com

> " Higher Serum Alpha-Tocopherol and Gamma-Tocopherol

> Concentrations are

> Associated with Lower Prostate Cancer Risk " American

> Association for

> Cancer Research, 95th Annual Meeting, Abstract No.

> 1096, 3/28/04,

> aacr.org

>

> Copyright ©1997-2004 by www.hsibaltimore.com,

> L.L.C. The e-Alert may

> not be posted on commercial sites without written

> permission.

>

>

************************************************************

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