Q&A: Omega-3's for Vegans Post-Breast Cancer

Today I had a question from a reader that I wanted to pass along:

Q:  I have a patient who has gone vegan after her breast cancer but is having difficulty getting enough omega-3. I was just curious where you get yours. Thanks!

A:  One of the best plant-based sources for Omega-3's is flaxseed--but it only effectively releases the Omega-3 oils when ground, you don't get the same benefits from eating the whole flaxseeds themselves! 

The best thing to do is for her to add a few tablespoons of "flaxseed meal" over her food during the course of the day--she really only needs 1 Tbl a day to cover her needs--she can sprinkle it on cereal and I've even put some on salads, etc. It has a nutty flavor but is very fine so it doesn't interfere with taste.  Flaxseed Meal is basically ground flaxseeds (she needs to keep it in the fridge after she opens it).





Its wonderful to hear that she has made that choice after breast cancer because I've been discovering recently that some studies have shown that cancer cells actually are activated by casein (a protein found in animal products). In laboratory studies, when mice were fed casein the cancer cells multiplied and when it was withheld, the cancer cells were dormant (no longer multiplied)!

As a side note I highly recommend that she take a daily multivitamin as well as B-12 daily (the kind that dissolves sublingually) in order to get all the nutrients she needs. Apparently B-12 is found in significant quantities in soil but since our veggies and fruits are washed and cleaned these days prior to sale, we aren't able to get the full B-12 supplementation we need from plants!  The multivitamin is just in case her vegan diet is not varied enough in terms of eating from all vegetable families. 

Hope this helps!  Thanks for the question!  Keep 'em coming folks!  I'm happy to share what I have learned in this process :-)

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