BIRDS OF A FEATHER

THE amazing things birds could teach us about human health. This week: Diagnosing cancer THE chicken is the only animal that spontaneously develops ovarian cancer and up to 30 per cent of egg-laying hens develop the disease.

Because all birds can have the same diet and live in an identical environment, it is easier to investigate biological causes of disease than in women.

Now, researchers at Illinois and Rush universities in the U.S. are using chickens to look for markers in the blood that could help create a cancer test. Diet may also have an impact, according to research on chickens published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology, which showed that chickens fed flaxseed had increased survival rates from ovarian cancer. They also had less severe disease and lower rates of disease spread — which may provide the basis for a clinical trial of flaxseed in women, said the researchers. Flaxseed contains omega-3, which has been shown to block the formation of tumours, such as those that can develop in the colon, breast, skin and lungs.