Breast cancer affects as many as 1 in 7 women in America, and kills over 50,000 every year. In the UK, 1 in 9 women develop breast cancer and over 13,000 die every year. So any way of reducing these appalling death figures would be a welcome boon for women and health authorities around the world.

Thirty nine post-menopausal women with recently diagnosed breast cancer and awaiting surgery were studied. The women were given either a muffin that contained 25 grams of ground flaxseed, or a plain (placebo) muffin that contained no flaxseed. The study was conducted over a 39-day period.

After the study, all breast-cancer tumours were removed from the women and analysed. It was found that the growth of tumours from the women who had been eating the flaxseed muffins was significantly reduced compared to the women eating the plain muffins. This is the first time it has been proved in humans that flaxseed can significantly restrict the growth of breast tumours!

The suspected reason why flaxseed was found to be so effective against breast cancer tumors is because it contains a significant amount of a compound called lignan. Lignan is known to regulate estrogen levels. High levels of estrogen have been linked to breast, uterus and cervical cancer.

Read more about the study here.