Flaxseed can reduce hot flashes

by Patricia Mayville-Cox, The Cancer Blog on Sep 06, 2007

Filed under: Cancer prevention foods

A pilot study from the Mayo clinic, led by Dr. Pruthi, finds that adding flaxseed to the diet can reduce hot flashes in postmenopausal women who do not take estrogen replacements. The findings were published in the Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology.

Hormone replacement therapy was commonly prescribed for hot flashes, but side effects and health concerns, including increased risk of cancer, have reduced their use. The researchers involved in this study looked at variety of herbal and dietary supplements including vitamin E, black cohosh and soy, but none decreased the frequency or severity of hot flashes other than the flaxseed.

The 29 participants did not want to take HRT due to a perceived increased risk of breast cancer. Most of them completed the six-week flaxseed trial, which involved eating 40 g of crushed flaxseed daily.

The frequency of hot flashes among the women decreased 50 percent over six weeks. Flaxseed contains lignans and omega-3 fatty acids. Lignans have weak estrogen characteristics. Dr. Pruthi cautions that this was a pilot study and further study in a large, randomized placebo-controlled study may not turn out such results.

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