Saturday, November 5, 2011

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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11 comments:

  1. My first time here, and it looks like a great blog - but does anyone know if it's possible to change the background color on my computer? I'm having trouble reading it for some reason......

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  2. Dear Anonymous, Thank you for your kind words! Happy to have you here! Let me see if I can help--what do you see on your screen: I set the background as black and the text as white. Is that what you see? Thanks!

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  3. Actually, I just checked in on the blog on my remote device and this entry looks blank! I completely understand why you can't see it!! Let me change the settings and see if maybe it gets better! Thanks for your patience!!

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  4. Ok Anonymous I think I've fixed it! The text should look blue now? Please let me know if you have any issues reading it! Thanks!

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  5. Glad I found your blog! Looks great! I am on Dr. E.'s diet, too. Would you please share how much B12 you are taking daily? Seems to be so many different opinions on this issue.

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  6. Hi - me again - I do see it - the background is black and the text is blue and white. I just have trouble reading it like that, and thought there might be an option to switch it around on my computer. Neanderthal here.....

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  7. Sure thing Anonymous! I take 500mcg B-12 every day (sublingual--dissolves below the tongue) and 1 multivitamin (cheap! Equate brand from Walmart!:-)) Just remember my disclaimer that I'm not your doctor & you should always check with your doctor before taking any vitamins :-) Hope that helps!!

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  8. Also on the blog--the colors are set, however, you could highlight on the text of a post, copy it and paste it into a Word document, and change the color of the text to black if that helps? Just one idea! Take care, hope to get comments from you in future posts!

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  9. Thanks, Dr. Cat. That is similar to what I have been doing with the B12. I understand the disclaimer. I am really looking forward to following your blog! I found you through your comment on Healthy Librarian.

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  10. Oh that's great! I love the Healthy Librarian's site--such a well-researched, helpful resource for me! I hope you don't mind but I posted your question to the blog so other folks can get the same info! Keep coming back--I'll look forward to chatting again!

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  11. When you say to refrigerate the flax seed....are you talking just the ground or the whole flax seed? I have the whole in a quart jar on my counter and I grind a little of it every day.

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