her 2+ and flaxseed oil

[jhandley]

Hi everyone
I am a very strong believer in the use of flaxseed oil (Dr Budwig's protocol) and fish oil and found this while looking for testimonials on the net:
Jackie
Breast Cancer (“her2/neu positive”)

Hi everybody,

I was diagnosed with a her2/neu positive breast lump, 7.5cm, of which only a third could be removed, and not having all options available then, as I have now, started with chemo in January - what medical doctor, who we all turn to for help when ill, is going to advise you otherwise ? I had already had 3 treatments, lost all my body hair, got really ill and had my immune system affected adversely, when my dear sister Cheryl in desperation started doing research on my behalf and came across the flaxseed oil/cottage cheese protocol and immediately started me on it. At that time my cancer count was 78. When I had my next full blood count 3 weeks later before the next round of chemo, the count had come down to 43 !!!! I know it was the flaxoil/cottage cheese because before that, with just chemo, the count did not move at all. By the time I finished chemo, the count was on 23 and now, 2 months (stopped chemo) later is still coming down.

But now the very best news : a friend of mine developed breast cancer, had a mastectomy and had to undergo chemo as well. She was a bit hesitant to follow my advice and Not have chemo, so before she started chemo, I put her on flax oil/cottage cheese and my own supplementation programme and diet, which she followed religiously. She started chemo -exactly the same as I had- adriamycin, traditional hair remover, included. She has now finished the treatment and to this day, HAS NOT LOST ONE SINGLE HAIR !!!! Also, was never nauseous, never had a mouth sore, never had a problem with low white blood count, and never got sick with so much as a cold right through our very cold winter this year. It was as if water was poured into her ! They can not even measure her cancer -the count is so low!

Also, my Dad who also got lymph cancer this year -can you believe it, was also put on the flaxoil/cottage cheese diet and is now in remission ! It’s like a miracle. The huge lumps he had before are now just speckles on his scan and will soon disappear, I know.

All I can say is : IT WORKS !!! And I can not thank my sister enough. My life is really back to normal because of her dedication and the flaxseed oil/cottage cheese she fed me ! (am still taking it)

I eat it on fruit, jacket potatoes, in fruit shakes, as a dip with raw veggies, with organic honey on crackers. When you really feel you can't face it any more, just pinch your nose shut and swallow anyway!

Regards
Lynette

[Tom]

I don't want to seem stupid, but will somebody PLEASE tell me what a

"JACKET POTATO" is ? Maybe I'd like them...lol

Sincerely,
Tom

[Marlys]

Maybe baked???
Marlys

[R.B.]

Baked in the jacket (skin) in the oven.


Thank you for the interesting post.

Re flax seed please see the posts on this site search under flax seed and flaxseed. The posts look at both the aspect of flaxseed as a source of omega three ALA and a source of phytoestrogens and the arguments for and against flaxseed v oil.

Re fish oil the importance of balancing the omega three and six intake, and the need for long chain derivatives EPA DHA etc please see the posts on omega three and six on this site.

To search click on search on the purple bar above and enter the search term.

The Greek Diet post gathers a lot of trials on various aspects of fats and diet.

Please talk to your medical advisors about any changes to your diet.

RB

[Tom]

Well don't I look like the vegetably challenged? Of course it's a baked potato. I should have figured that out. Thanks Marlys for setting me straight. It figures that somebody from IDAHO would be the one to make me look bad. And to make matters worse, R.B., a "foreigner" with a bachelor's degree in fish and chips, had to seal my fate. Oh well, at least I am the wiser for it. I will celebrate my newfound knowledge by baking a couple for Mom and I tonight.

Thank you Jackie for the fascinating article you sent to begin with. I have grown to agree with R.B. that the EFA equation may come to be one of the most important factors in the treatment as well as prevention of many cancers.

Tom

[RobinP]

Tom, you're too funny, RB has a BS in Fish and Chips, that's a good one. HA, HA! Enjoy your potatoes Tom.

[Donna]

Hi All,

I was doing research on all of the omegas to see what to take to helpe the chemo work better. I am meeting with a cancer nutritionist this Weds. who said she would check on the latest research as well - also on some other things I found that might be helpful like non denatured whey isolate. This is what I found and I have added Omegas to my vitamin regimen, but I made sure to minimize how much EPA is in the mix (next to nothing) because I read that EPA actually helps the cancer grow. I feel the jury is still out on how much vitamin E to take - I am hoping the nutritionist will have information on that. Below are some interesting abstracts from PUBMED I found that helped me to decide what to take - I have added Resveratrol as well at the Omegas based on these findings - they help my chemo work and also inhibit Her-2/Neu, a win-win in my book.

Differential sensitization of cancer cells to doxorubicin by DHA: a role for lipoperoxidation. PUBMED
Retinoic acid and ascorbic acid act synergistically in inhibiting human breast cancer cell proliferation PUBMED
Use of resveratrol to improve the effectiveness of cisplatin and doxorubicin: study in human gynecologic cancer cell lines and in rodent heart PUBMED
The antiproliferative activity of resveratrol results in apoptosis in MCF-7 but not in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells: cell-specific alteration of the cell cycle PUBMED
Resveratrol down-regulates the growth and telomerase activity of breast cancer cells in vitro PUBMED
Exogenous supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) synergistically enhances taxane cytotoxicity and downregulates Her-2/neu (c-erbB-2) oncogene expression in human breast cancer cells.PUBMED

Best to you all! Donna

[Sherryg683]

Well,I went out and purchased my organic cottage cheese, 2 lbs of fresh flaxseeds, and a large bottle of flaxseed oil. I'm all ready here. I've been taking the capsules but read about how they weren't as good. I actually like the taste of the oil and the seeds, I ground them up finely in a coffee grinder. I read in the article that to be sure if you are eating the seeds to grind them up into fine powder because they have found a lot of blockage occuring because of unchewed flax or sunflower seeds and you don't get the same nutrient value. I don't know much about this but the cottage cheese with the oil, topped with the powdered flax seeds, and a few peaches in there was pretty tasty...sherryg683

[RobinP]

Clinical Summary From MSK website:

(RB, see bold italics below)

Derived from plant oils and various foods. Patients use vitamin E to prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. Natural food sources include plant oils, wheat germ, eggs, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains (3). Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, preventing the propagation of free-radical reactions and protecting polyunsaturated fatty acids within membrane phospholipids. Although sold in a variety of formulations, only the d-isomer is considered active (1). A recent analysis of seven brands of commercially available vitamin E revealed actual content to vary considerably from the labeled dosage (5). Most research describes vitamin E in terms of milligrams, but most products are sold in international units (IU). The conversion is 1 IU natural vitamin E equals 0.67 mg d-alpha-tocopherol and 1 IU of synthetic vitamin E equals 0.45 mg d-alpha-tocopherol. Studies evaluating vitamin E supplementation suggest that it may reduce the risk of some cancers (19) (20), improve immune response in the elderly, and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (9) (15) (16) (18). However, 200mg of vitamin E per day has no effect on reducing the incidence of acute respiratory tract infection (12). In addition, a meta-analysis of seven randomized trials showed that Vitamin E provided no benefit in mortality, nor reduced the risk of cardiovascular death or cerebrovascular accident when compared with control treatment (26). Nor was it effective in arresting the development or progression of macular degeneration (14) and Early Parkinson's Disease (21). Vitamin E supplementation also has been shown to reduce the incidence of cisplatin induced neurotoxicity (22). One clinical trial shows that vitamin E is more effective than a placebo in reducing hot flashes in breast cancer survivors (27). There are no significant adverse effects associated with vitamin E, although toxicity may occur with chronic supplementation of doses greater than 800 IU. Daily supplementation over 400 IU may increase all-cause mortality (29). A recent review of 14 clinical trials shows that supplementation with antioxidants beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, and E does not seem to prevent gastrointestinal cancer and may actually increase overall mortality (28). Data from a large, multicenter Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial also suggests that antioxidant supplementation may not lower the risk of prostate cancer (31). Vitamin E was recently found in a study to increase the risk of a second primary cancer in the first few years following supplementation. Researchers also suggest that it may interfere with radiation therapy (30). Vitamin E may also enhance the activity of warfarin, but data are inconsistent (7) (8). PT and INR should be monitored when vitamin E supplementation is initiated or discontinued in patients receiving warfarin. A clinical trial in women on HRT with coronary artery disease shows an increased risk of death and nonfatal myocardial infarction in patients who took Vitamin C and Vitamin E supplements (13).
top
Food Sources

Plant-derived oils (wheat germ, soybean, sunflower, almond, safflower, corn), wheat germ, liver, eggs, nuts and seeds, green leafy vegetables, whole grains (1) (2)
top
Purported uses

[R.B.]

I have seen a lot of the suggestions in the trail you post in a variety of other similar trials looking at vitamin E.

Vit E can help but it is not the answer in a very rough summary.

Vit E is generally reported as an antioxidant.

I have seen arguments that antioxidants may interfere with chemo radiation etc.

My questions was effectively - was it the blood thinning or something else that was causing spread. It could be the blood thinning but I would guess is more likely to be something else, and this article does not seem to be suggesting that it is blood thinning - it just posts a caveat.

This is all hugely complex, and very great deals remain unknown, but there are suggestions that long chain omega threes particularly increase oxidation ( which can kill rougue cells). The mitochondrial membrane has it own type of lipid that shows a predisposition to take up high levels of DHA when available. DHA has particular properties and may have a special role both as fuel and source of controlled oxidation which enables rougue cell destruction.

Vitamin E helps protects fats from unwanted oxidation but I GUESS and no more where people have insufficient omega 3 / blocked fats pathways / deficiences in long chain fats may be it has a negative effect by blocking weaker oxidiation paths?

In conclusion I have no problem with a suppostion that in certain circumstances excess Vit E may be related to spread - I dont know the answer but can see in very vague terms possibilities why - but I do not think the article would support your concerns on blood thinning and spread re the omega threes. ( Omega threes and warfarin)

There are anumber of trials suggesting synergies for long chain omega threes and various chemos and indeed in animals radiation.

Please do come back if you disagree - I struggle with all this too - and thank you for the post, and obviously always talk to your advisors as I am only trying to report what I read but claim no particular expertise.


RB

[RobinP]

I don't know why vit E in some studies has promoted cancer spread. Perhaps it isn't related to blood thinning as I was told! In fact, I just googled these articles that actually have some positive things to say about blood thinners, decreasing thrombin, used in cancer tx.

Tissue factor, thrombin, and cancer.

Rickles FR, Patierno S, Fernandez PM.

Department of Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.

In addition to its primary role in hemostasis and blood coagulation, thrombin is a potent mitogen capable of inducing cellular functions. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that thrombin has proved to be of importance in the behavior of cancer. In this review, we focus on the ability of tissue factor (TF) and thrombin to influence tumor angiogenesis. Both exert their influence on angiogenesis through clotting-dependent and clotting-independent mechanisms: (1). directly affecting signaling pathways that mediate cell functions, and (2). mediating clot formation, thereby providing a growth media for tumor cells. Therefore, anticoagulant drugs may prove efficacious in cancer treatment due to their ability to reduce the characteristic hypercoagulability of cancer and alter the fundamental biology of cancer.

Effects of thrombin/thrombosis in angiogenesis and tumour progression.

Maragoudakis ME, Tsopanoglou NE, Andriopoulou P, Maragoudakis MM.

University of Patras, Medical School, Department of Pharmacology, 261 10 Rio, Patras, Greece. maragoud@med.upatras.gr

Laboratory, histopathological, pharmacological and clinical evidence support the notion that a systemic activation of blood coagulation is often present in cancer patients. On the other hand, epidemiological studies provide evidence of an increased risk of cancer diagnosis following primary thromboembolism. Moreover, the metastatic ability of human breast cancer cells is correlated with the number of thrombin receptors of these cells, and thrombin treatment of B16 melanoma cells dramatically increases the number of lung metastases in rats. We have proposed that these tumour-promoting effects of thrombin can be explained by the ability of thrombin to activate angiogenesis, an essential requirement for tumour progression. Many of the cellular events involved in the angiogenic cascade can be activated by thrombin. At the molecular level, brief exposure of endothelial cells to thrombin causes an upregulation of the receptors (KDR and Flt-1) of VEGF, the key angiogenic mediator. This results in a synergistic effect of thrombin and VEGF in the activation of angiogenesis. In addition, thrombin activates cancer cells to secrete VEGF, thus causing a mutual stimulation between EC and CA cells. Cancer cells exposed to thrombin secrete metalloproteinase 92 KD and overexpress the integrin a(v)b(3), all of which are involved in tumour metastasis.