Dr. Pruthi on What She Learned From the Flaxseed Trial

Sandhya Pruthi, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, explains what she learned from her randomized controlled trial, NCCTG study N08C7, examining the use of flaxseed to control hot flashes which failed to show significant improvement overall.

Even though the trial did not meet show significant improvement in hot flashes there was still much to be learned about the use of complimentary therapies. The need to ask patients which and how many complimentary therapies they are taking individually or in combination became increasingly evident over the course of the trial. Although the study performed well in pilot trials it failed to meet the primary endpoint in a placebo controlled trial; further emphasizing the need to rule out the placebo effect that appears often in complimentary therapies.