confused

[Christine MH-UK]

Hi Joy,

Using some of the statistics in one of Dr. Javier Menendez's articles, I calculated once that starflower oil probably has very minimal benefits for her2 breast cancer cells and that evening primrose oil has too much linoleic acid (bad omega-6) to do any good, even though it also contains gamma linoleic acid (good omega-6). Dr. Menendez is the Northwestern University scientist who is the expert in the effect of fatty acids on her2+ breast cancer cells in the laboratory. His work shows that GLA, oleic acid, alpha linolenic acid and DHA increase chemosensitivity. If his figures are right, olive oil and flaxseed oil are particularly beneficial, fish oil is beneficial, canola is neutral and the other seed oils do poorly. (And yes, I realize that this is different from the whole omega3/omega6 business, but it is what his research specifically on two her2+ 3+ cell lines shows).

Incidentally, a study in Italy showed that Italian her2+ women with her2positive breast cancer actually do better than her2- women if they receive both an anthracycline and a taxane, so maybe there's something to the olive oil.