Sesame May Eclipse Flaxseed As The Ultimate Healing Seed. page 2
Ultimately, the study proved something that has still not seeped into the popular consciousness, and which marketing copy and even professional educators have yet adjusted their data to accommodate, namely:
Because the mammalian lignan production with sesame seed, alone or in combination with flaxseed, was equivalent to that from flaxseed, sesame seed may be used as an alternative to flaxseed as a very rich source of mammalian lignan precursors. The large amount of mammalian lignans produced with sesame seed, reported for the first time here, suggests that they should also be examined for their potential role on some of the reported beneficial effects of sesame seed and its major lignans" [emphasis added]
The Power of Sesame Revealed
Now that we have established sesame on the same footing as flaxseed, both in terms of lignan content, and their convertibility to the mammalian lignans ED and EL, it will be helpful to look at a 2012 study, which also confirmed one dimension of their therapeutic effects to be equivalent. Published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer, and titled,”Comparative effects of sesame seed lignan and flaxseed lignan in reducing the growth of human breast tumors (MCF-7) at high levels of circulating estrogen in athymic mice,” researchers found that breast tumor prone mice fed for 8 weeks, either flaxseed lignan (SDG) or sesame lignan (SES), both resulted in the reduction of tumor cell proliferation and the reduction in tumor size by 23% compared to the control. The researchers found that sesame lignan was more effective than flaxseed lignan in reducing breast tumor growth. One explanation is that sesame lignan was found to be a better inducer of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in breast cancer cells than flaxseed lignan.
Hopefully, we have established that sesame not only contains at least as much beneficial lignan as flaxseed, but that research (albeit preliminary) also shows these sesame lignans are also powerful anti-cancer agents, and that we can expect many of the clinically confirmed health benefits attributed to flaxseed may also be attributable to sesame seeds.
Ultimately, however, this comparative approach may distract from the wealth of health benefits already identified for sesame and its components in the biomedical literature. Sesame, like flaxseed, is backed up by literally thousands of published studies. You can do a pubmed.gov search of the MEDLINE database and will find almost 3,000 studies available to look through. Our GreenMedInfo.com database on sesame, in fact, lists 90 potential health benefits of this amazing seed.
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We’ve reported previously on a few human studies with very promising results. Here are a few worth perusing:
Over and over again, in the published research itself, we are finding that simple foods, many of which we have never paid much attention to, contain powerful, if not life-saving health benefits. Not only are we learning that Hippocrates was right when he said that "food is medicine," but that even better, if we can start incorporating these powerful substances into our daily diet, in even small, culinary doses, not only will they nourish us deeply, but we won't need to use heroic doses of spices or foods later on, after a serious illness has taken hold. In other words, food isn't so much medicine, as that which prevents us ever needing medicine in the first place.
Nutritional Facts and How To Take Sesame
If you would like to learn more about the nutritional benefits of sesame, you can visitNutritionData.com’s in depth analysis. You will find there that sesame seed is actually a significant source of protein: about 20% by weight. It is also a rich source of plant-based calcium, providing 9% of the RDA, and which is far superior to the many inorganic forms of calcium that predominant out there because it is highly unlikely to contribute to soft tissue, or so-called ectopic calcification. It is also surprising to find that it is a significant source of iron, providing 53% of the RDA in a 150 gram serving (roughly 5 ounces).
Sesame seeds rarely come up in typical Western dietary patterns, beyond its almost ornamental usage on hamburger buns. Some savor the taste of its roasted oil -- a form which would not contain as much lignan (because it is a fiber co-passenger) and which would have far less antioxidant activity due to roasting. But have you ever considered adding it to your cereal, salads, or smoothies? It does not take much to benefit from this lignan content when used this way. Just a teaspoon a day is enough to have a significant impact.
Here are a few other ways to use sesame:
Sesame Milk Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup of sesame seeds
2 cups of water
Directions:
- Soak 1 cup of sesame seeds in 2 cups of water overnight In the morning, blend the water and seeds until smooth
- Chill and drink (to retain the fiber) or strain the mixture using a cheesecloth then serve
Lemon-Tahini Salad Dressing
Ingredients:
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tsp honey
1 small clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions: Whisk together and serve with greens or drizzle over cooked or raw vegetables like green beans and broccoli.
Source for recipes: Blog.foodnetwork.com
For additional research on sesame health benefits, read our article Open Sesame! 10 Amazing Health Benefits of this Super-Seed
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