Flax Oil - Friend or Foe?

Nutrition
1

So, what do you think guys?

Flax oil is a good source of polyunsaturated fats, ALA and some DHA and EPA. That’s cool, but it also has phytoestrogens.

Some people say, that ingesting food rich with phytoestrogens is bad and that statistically it shows reduce in sperm count and testis activity, while others say that they may actually block or antagonize the effects of estrogen in some tissues.

Here is the list of food with phytoestrogens:

I’ve been dieting Massive Eating style for some time now and i always try to optimize my diet. Getting rid of all the stuff wich may decrease my T levels is one of these endevours.

So, what’s your advice? Should i get rid of flaxoil and flax seeds and switch to, say, pumpkin seeds? I do ingest fish oil capsules as well.

2

You can’t dump all fruits and vegetables (=phytoestrogens). Just ease up on flax oil.

Why substitute pumpkin seeds? Eat those, too!

3

I mean substitute flax oil/flax seeds with the pumpkin seeds.

Flaxseed oil is ranked second on that link, while the soy is first. Since i log my food intake in FitDay, i was able to assess the overall consumption of dietary fat. It showed, that i consumed 118g of flaxseed oil during last 14 days. It averages to ~8g a day. I have had a lot of fishoil (116g) and a lot of fat coming from Almonds, Walnuts, Filberts (even more than from flax/fish oils) and saturated fats from chicken/meat/dairy.

What do you guys think, how much is the maximum for the flaxseed oil per day?

4

People need to learn to differentiate between different types of phytoestrogens.

Just as with dietary fat, there are likely good phytoestrogens and bad phytoestrogens.

5

If you’re taking plenty of fish oil I wouldn’t worry about flax. The conversion to DHA & EPA is quite low, somewhere on the order of < 7%. So you’d have to drink alot of it to get what you need. I’d just go with walnut, or grapeseed oil for cooking (low heat), and almond, or olive for salads and stuff. The rest of your fats through nuts, veges and meats.

DJ

6

Id go with butter for cooking, since the only sat. fat you’re getting is from meats and dairy, probably not even that much.

7

[quote]HK24719 wrote:
People need to learn to differentiate between different types of phytoestrogens.

Just as with dietary fat, there are likely good phytoestrogens and bad phytoestrogens.[/quote]

Interesting… Any studies you can point me to?

8

djreef,

Yeah, i think i’d substitute flaxoil with nuts or more olive oil. Grapeseed oil also sounds interesting.

bw1985,

Well, i do have some sat fat. My average ratio is about 20/40/40 (sat, poly, mono), where most of sat fat comes from dairy/egg-yolks.

9

Flax oil - no reason to be taking it IMO.

BUT if you want the health benefits of flax, then a moderate amount of the ground seeds are good.

For omega-3, use fish/fish oil and other sources (like the small amount in 1tbsp ground flax).

Taking pure flax oil is just overkill IMO.