Ancient Crop Effective in Protecting Against Modern Health Hazard

Flax has been part of human history for well over 30,000 years, used for weaving cloth, feeding people and animals, and other purposes. Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, USA), and colleagues completed a series of separate experiments, in which the researchers fed one group of mice a diet supplemented with 10% flaxseed, either three weeks before a dose of X-ray radiation to the thorax or two, four, or six weeks after radiation exposure. A control group subjected to the same radiation dose was given the same diet but receiving an isocaloric control diet without the flaxseed supplement. After four months, only 40% of the irradiated control group survived, compared to 70 to 88% of the irradiated flaxseed-fed animals. The team found that the flaxseed diet conferred substantial benefits on blood, fluids, and tissues – regardless of whether it was initiated before or after irradiation. Mice on flaxseed displayed improved survival rates and mitigation of radiation pneumonitis, with increased blood oxygenation levels, higher body weight, lower pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, and greatly reduced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis.  The researchers are next studying the bioactive lignan component of flaxseed, known as SDG (secoisolariciresinol diglucoside), which is believed to confer its potent antioxidant properties. They conclude that: “Dietary supplementation of [flaxseed] may be a useful adjuvant treatment mitigating adverse effects of radiation in individuals exposed to inhaled radioisotopes or incidental radiation.”