Sayer Ji – When it comes to dietary superfoods, there may be nothing on Earth that packs as much healing power into as small a package as the sesame seed. Scientific studies have revealed that sesame seeds are a superior source of cancer-fighting lignans, bumping flaxseed from its “top-seeded” position!

Anyone who is interested in natural health is likely to be acquainted with the potent healing powers of flaxseed, 70 of which are discussed here. Thanks to two significant studies done in the 1990s, flaxseeds gained fame for their high lignan content and phytoestrogens, biologically active elements with antioxidant and chemoprotective properties. These studies found flaxseed to be the richest source of lignans, with concentrations 100-800 times higher than any other plant food tested. This led many health-conscious people to believe that flaxseed is the superior source of lignans, especially for vegans. But this is not the end of the high-lignan seed story.

An important 2005 study has put a better option on the table. Published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer, researchers compared the amount of mammalian lignan that was produced from metabolized sesame seed and flaxseed. Two specific mammalian lignans, enterolactone (ED) and enterodiol (EL), were the focus of the study. Continue reading →