Objectives
1. To definitively establish the safety of flax and flax products on the liver as it is an organ of sensitivity to being damaged.
2. To determine the impact of flax and flax products on liver damage since liver damage underscores the development of liver diseases that pose serious threats to human health.
3. To identify the flax component which produces a beneficial health effect as first step in moving towards clinical trials, industrial production and therapeutic application
Project Description
Flax has been used for many years, by various peoples, as a health food, claimed to alleviate a variety of ailments and treat diseases including gastrointestinal disturbances, eczema, multiple sclerosis, cancer and heart disease. As scientists have come to recognize the importance of natural products and specifically those of plant origins, flax has been begun to be subjected to scientific analysis although much is still to be done.
Flax contains phytochemicals of which two are particularly noteworthy: a 3-omega (n3) oil, alpha-linolenic acid; and products in the seed itself known as lignans, the most important of which is secoisolariciresinol (SDG).
In limited scientific studies, in animals and humans, both alpha-linolenic acid and the lignan SDG have been shown to be beneficial in modifying the expression of specific disease states, notably mammary and colon cancers, diabetes and forms of heart disease.
There are common denominators in the pathogenesis of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease that involve tissue damage through free radical production, calcium toxicity and loss of functionally critical proteins within the cell and at the level of the plasma membrane. The literature indicates that flax, flax products or and/or products comparable to flax products may be protective by working at the level of these common denominators in the case of these diseases’ states and/or disorders.
It is significant, however, that there have been no studies on the impact of flax on liver disease even though liver disease shares with the other three disease states an involvement of free radical-induced cellular injury and toxic calcium overload. Since liver is an essential organ from a functional perspective and since liver disease is a major killer, lacks effective treatment and is increasing dramatically, studies in this area are certainly warranted.
The liver is the largest internal organ in the body and is essential to life. It develops early in gestation and performs a myriad of functions in both the fetal and adult state. The liver also performs an essential function in the metabolic breakdown and detoxification of chemical substances to achieve their elimination from the body.
Not only is the liver the site of nutrient and drug metabolism, it is sensitive to damage. Damage to this critical organ plays a critical role in the development of liver disease of which there over 100 different forms. These invariably progress and lead to a common outcome: the development of cirrhosis of the liver and, eventually, liver cancer. The impact is highly significant in human terms. At present death by liver disease is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the Western World and it is increasing Cirrhosis is associated with great morbidity and a high mortality. Liver cancer, which develops from a cirrhotic state is one of the fastest moving and lethal forms of cancer known : there is no known cure and treatments are very limited and largely ineffective Studies are badly needed in the area of prevention and control.
That flax may prove to be beneficial to the liver and protective against injury and/or disease is suggested from a few studies on other natural products such as the lignan TON JO I isolated from Schizendra fruit which protects against liver damage and the subsequent fibrosis associated with the development of cirrhosis of the liver induced by chronic CC14 treatment; and wuweizisu which protects against chemically-induced liver damage by increasing the concentration of the protective antioxidant reduced glutathione . Hepatocarcinogenesis requires, and evolves from, liver damage and liver peroxidation plays an important role in the expression of this damage. The bioflavonoid ternatin has been shown to protect against lipid peroxidation induced by the potent hepatocarcinogen aflatoxin B. Of significance here is the finding that the lignan SDG from flax has potent antioxidant properties.
Taken together, it was these results from these studies that strongly suggested that flax may also be beneficial in the treatment of liver damage and the cirrhotic and cancerous states that evolve from it.
