Articles
Flax Seed & Flax Seed Oils for Omega-3 and EFAs
http://www.countcarbs.com/advice/LCT_flax_omega3_EFAs.htm
flax seed and flax seed oil are currently recognized as appropriate sources of omega-3 fatty acids by several US government agencies, including USDA and NIH. These agencies have held conferences and workshops on the importance of omega-3 fat , which have included recommendations for consuming flax seed.1
There are, however, present-day challengers on the Internet to the use of flax as food. The Now Age Press website is a typical example. Critics take issue with any statement made in recent years that refers to flax seed as having a history as a “staple” food in any culture. These critics will admit only to the use of flax seed as food in times of famine. In addition to their challenge to the notion of the use of flax seed or flax seed oil as food in antiquity, as well as to aspects of safety related to the presence of lignans and various anti-nutrients such as cyanogenic glycosides in flax seed, the writers for these websites make substantive mistakes about composition, stating, for example, that hemp oil has levels of omega-3 fatty acids as high as flax oil. Actually, flax oil contains about 60 percent of total fatty acids as omega-3 fatty acids, compared to about 20 percent for hemp oil.2
When we search out historical documents written a century ago, however, we are presented with another view. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica reported that “Linseed [flax seed] formed an article of food among the Greeks and Romans, and it is said that the Abyssinians at the present day eat it roasted. The oil is to some extent used as food in Russia and in parts of Poland and Hungary.”
The article also describes concern voiced over “. . . direct adulterations. . . [by]. . . admixture of cheaper and inferior oil-seeds. . . .” In 1864, a union of traders of linseed oil was formed in England to prevent this adulteration by monitoring all imported oil.3
The more recent Cambridge World History of Food records the use of flax seed oil for cooking in Russia in the 19th Century and the use of seeds for making tea.4
A recent text on flax seed, edited by researchers at the University of Toronto, contains discussions of historical uses as a food, both directly and indirectly. In the introduction, we learn that the edible flax seed was the one predominantly grown in India, that flax seed is consumed in the diet as oil in China, that it is consumed in Ethiopia in a stew (wat), as a porridge (gufmo), and as a drink (chilka), and has been part of the traditional foods in Egypt since the time of the Pharaohs.5
In the US, the earliest record in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) writings raises the question of GRAS status for flax seed use in foods. This appears in correspondence to the FDA in 1948 when the food industry initiated an inquiry about the use of flax in cereal foods. The FDA originally declined the GRAS status request because the use of flax, as (or in) food prior to 1958, was in other countries and not in the US. In addition, the FDA indicated concern about untreated flax seed being a source of toxic hydrocyanic acid and posted an import alert in 1978; this decision was abandoned in 1982 when the import alert was canceled and flax seed was permitted in bread in levels of 10-12 percent. The agency stated that there was no concern that there would be “. . . any more exposure to hydrogen cyanide than from other foods such as lima beans, fava beans, chickpeas, cassava, yams, cashews or almonds. . . ”6
Researchers from two universities evaluated flax seed powder consumption in women and reported that the lignans, which they considered as protective against certain cancers, were normally metabolized by the microflora in the gut. These researchers reported that the possible cyanide exposure from 60 grams of raw flax seed in healthy individuals is not hazardous; further they indicated that raw flax seed is traditionally consumed in 10-gram amounts (approximately 1 tablespoon).7
So how much flax seed, or flax seed oil is appropriate and unquestionably
safe? The recommendation from the US government agencies is usually
2 tablespoons of flax seed per day to supply omega-3 fatty acids
for a 2000 kcal diet. (The flax seed needs to be ground in order
for the proper digestion of the seeds to take place.) Two tablespoons
of flax seed is about 20 grams of seed and since there is about 40
percent oil in the seeds and about 50-60 percent omega-3 in the
oil, 20 grams of seed could provide about 8 grams of flax seed oil
and about 4 grams alpha-linolenic acid, the basic omega-3 fatty
acid. Four grams of omega-3 fatty acids is about 36 calories, which
is slightly more than the usual recommendation of 1.5 percent of
calories for a 2000 calorie intake. The amount of flax seed oil needed
to provide this much omega-3 is about 1.5 to 2 tsp per day.8 If
you are getting omega-3 fatty acids from other sources in your diet,
then the recommended amount of flax seed oil would be less.
Uses of Flax Seed
Health Benefits of Flax Seed
Side Effects of Flax Seed