- With Mayo Clinic urologist
Erik Castle, M.D.
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Erik Castle, M.D.
Erik Castle, M.D.
Dr. Erik Castle is a board-certified urologist who joined the Mayo Clinic staff in Arizona in 2007.
Dr. Castle is an associate professor of urology at College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, and a senior associate consultant in the Department of Urology, where he also is assistant residency coordinator.
He was an assistant professor in the Department of Urology at Tulane University in New Orleans from 2004 to 2006 after serving as a clinical instructor/fellow at Mayo Clinic in Arizona for one year.
Dr. Castle's research interests include prostate cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer. He is the director of the Desert Mountain Prostate Cancer Research Fund and is the principal investigator of Castle labs housed at the Samuel C. Johnson Medical Research building at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. His basic science research is focused on novel secondary hormonal therapies of prostate cancer as well as genomics of prostate and bladder cancer.
His surgical expertise includes laparoscopic urology, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy with nerve sparing, robot-assisted radical cystectomy with neobladder, robot-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, robot-assisted partial nephrectomy and other robotic urologic oncology procedures. He has performed many of these procedures as demonstrations internationally. He is a member of the American Association of Clinical Urologists, the American Urological Association, the Endourological Society, and the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. He is president of the international Society of Urologic Robotic Surgeons. He is also the director of the international laparoscopic nephrectomy courses throughout Mexico on behalf of the American Urologic Association.
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Question
Flaxseed: Does it increase my prostate cancer risk?
I take flaxseed to control my high cholesterol. But I was recently told that flaxseed increases the risk of prostate cancer. Is this true?
Answer
from Erik Castle, M.D.
There is limited research on the effects of flaxseed on the risk of prostate cancer. Flaxseed and flaxseed oil are rich sources of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) — a fatty acid — which can help reduce total cholesterol.
Some research suggests that higher levels of ALA may be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. Other preliminary studies report that a low-fat diet supplemented with flaxseed can reduce prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men with enlarged prostate glands (benign prostatic hyperplasia) and in those with prostate cancer. However, these effects may be due to a reduction in dietary fats. The role of flaxseed in such cases isn't clear.
Overall, it remains unclear whether flaxseed or flaxseed oil has a role in the prevention or treatment of prostate cancer. Until more definitive studies are available, it's probably best for men to avoid supplementation with high doses of flaxseed.
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