Prostate potential - Letters

In one of your articles ("Bulk Up Your Brain," April) you stated that taking flaxseed oil, but not the seeds themselves, "has been implicated in a greater occurrence of prostate cancer." I have been talking to a lot of people and nobody has heard this before. I have been taking the oil every day and now am a little worried. Can you tell me where you got this information?

--ARTY D., CLEARWATER, FL

We've been receiving a lot of questions on this topic, Arty, so we asked Stacey Dunn-Emke, M.S., R.D., director of nutrition for the Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Trial at the Sausalito, Calif.-based Preventive Medicine Research Institute, to clarify. Her response: "Until further research is done, we don't recommend flaxseed-oil supplements for men who have or are at risk for prostate cancer. This recommendation is based on three studies showing that two essential fatty acids, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, may promote the progression of prostate-tumor growth. Flaxseed oil is very rich in both those fatty acids."

Dunn-Emke adds that as long as you're cancer-free, including a small amount of ground flaxseeds in your diet may be a better alternative. Flaxseeds contain fewer fatty acids, but have high concentrations of a beneficial substance known as lignans.

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