“Flaxseed and its oil are often sold as sources of
Omega-3s, but their use as such is misguided. The
body requires Omega-3s comprised of 22-24 carbon
atoms; flax provides 18-carbon Omega-3s. The acids
can be converted to the necessary form, but the
process is inefficient and very little DHA and EPA are
actually received. Worse, flax produces systemic
inflammation, one of the problems we use Omega-3s
to prevent.”
I’ve been taking milled flax daily, for the fat and also for the fiber. I was wondering if anybody had any worthwhile thoughts on this and if flax is really over-rated as a source of Omega-3s and even detrimental to their anti-inflammatory effects.
I’m not trying to convey that flax is bad for you, I am looking for someone to confirm or deny the above statement that flax may not be a quality source of omega 3s and to expound on its inflammatory effects.
Regardless of the above, if it isn’t a ‘high quality’ source of omega 3s, its definitely not a trans fat and you really can’t beat 10g a fiber in 4 tbsp. Its pretty cheap too. But what is up with this inflammatory stuff?
I never use to take it but, began to take it because of the anti-inflammatory effects brought on from omega-3’s. A couple days later I broke out with a couple pimples. Now, I can’t even look at the damn thing with out getting a pimple. This would make sense if it was inflammatory.
i want to know what it has to do with estrogen. polquin says to avoid. then I read one of polquins (probably old) Q&A and he recommends flax seed oil. Then I read what CT has to say and he says avoid. BLAH
"Recently, several studies have been published that seem to indicate that taking flax seed, or flax seed oil, might exacerbate or even cause prostate cancer.
Probably the most damning of these was the dietary study in Uruguay that found that those with the highest intake of ALA (alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid precursor found at high levels in flax seed) had a 440% increase in their risk of getting prostate cancer compared with those at the lowest level. Therefore, ipso facto, since flax seed has a high concentration of ALA, it should be avoided."
“Flaxseed and its oil are often sold as sources of
Omega-3s, but their use as such is misguided. The
body requires Omega-3s comprised of 22-24 carbon
atoms; flax provides 18-carbon Omega-3s. The acids
can be converted to the necessary form, but the
process is inefficient and very little DHA and EPA are
actually received. Worse, flax produces systemic
inflammation, one of the problems we use Omega-3s
to prevent.” [/quote]
Do include a reference. If not for us, then for the G-bots.
I highly doubt that “systemic inflammation” claim, but you’re better off with fish oil anyway. A healthy prostate is one less thing to worry about.
…I subscribed to the performance menu journal a couple months ago. I went back and started to check out a bunch of the older articles and picked this one up. They’re pretty good articles and theres a lot of good information in them.
I’ve been taking high doses of Flameout to help with fat loss and the flax really helps to keep my fiber intake up while dieting, but I guess I’m just going to have to eat more veggies.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
I swear, some people must think the human body is this super frail organism that can’t handle food.
PB is bad because of (forget the name)
Soy is the devil
Flax is the devil
don’t eat tuna, it will kill you
whatever happened to most things in moderation?
it’s not like I’m saying twinkies in moderation, but surely getting flax or soy occasionally won’t make or break anyone’s progress
But if it might cause harm, why even take it? It is not like flax seed is the most fucking delicious food in the world.[/quote]
I eat it, some of my clients eat it. I don’t see us being harmed. Granted, I’m not a huge flax fan myself, but when I make homemade protein balls I throw some in there to get some healthy fats :shrug:
I used to put flax in my morning shake everyday but noticed more frequent puffiness in my nipples. I did experiments of 2 weeks of shakes with flax and 2 weeks without, and flax always resulted in more puffy nipples. I believe both Poliquin and CT have said that people will react differently to the phytoestrogens in flax. For some it’s beneficial, for others harmful.
Honestly, I don’t know what the puffiness signifies or if it means anything other than I have a little bit of fat on my chest, which is there no matter what shape my nipples are in. But it looks weird so I’ll pass on flax.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
I’ve been taking high doses of Flameout to help with fat loss and the flax really helps to keep my fiber intake up while dieting, but I guess I’m just going to have to eat more veggies. [/quote]
More veggies is always a good thing. You could also try psyllium seed husks.
Flax meal is probably better, but flax oil is good to balance out other oils, including olive, which have a negative 0mega 3 balance.
But all in all, just the fact that we use vegetable oils is kind of unnatural already - they’ve only been around en mass for 60 years or so and are highly concentrated, fragile plant fats.
I know that Berardi and Shugs also used to promote flax oil but have switched to supporting flax meal recently. I don’t know of their current views, though.