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Nutritional Benefit
The fact is there is fat that is good for you. As more and more clinical research continues to emerge, essential fatty acids otherwise known as "the good fat" is an important part of your daily diet. Approximately 73% of the fat in flax is polyunsaturated fat or essential fatty acids. More than half of the fat in Flax Seed is alpha-linolenic acid or omega-3 essential fats. These good fats are termed essential because the human body can not make it on its own and must get them from our daily diet. Flax is one of the best ways to incorporate these essential fats into our diet.
Essential Fatty Acids Recommendations
Currently, no dietary reference intakes (DRIs) for flax have been established in Canada or the United States. However, the adequate intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), serves as the basis for the suggested flax intakes. For optimal health, the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends an acceptable level of ALA intake to be 1.6 g/d for men and 1.1 g/d for women. The Flax Council of Canada recommends 1-2 tablespoons a day of ground flax to achieve adequate intakes of ALA and for optimal health.
Heart Health
Trans fat and saturated fat are two types of fat in certain foods, which today's health experts recommend to be decreased in our daily diet because they raise the level of low-density lipoProtein (LDL) or bad fat, which can clog the arteries and furthermore lead to heart attacks and strokes. Dietitians of Canada recommend that 50-60% of the calories in a daily diet should come from carbohydrates, 10-15% from protein sources, and less than 30% from fat. Of the daily fat we consume, less than 10% should come from saturated fat and trans fat, 10-20% should be from polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat.
Flax contains 73% polyunsaturated fat, 18% monounstaurated fat, only 9% saturated fat and 0% trans fat. Because flax is high in polyunsaturated fat or the good fat, it works to decrease bad fat or LDL levels in the body. Studies have shown that lignans (SDG: secoisolariciresinol diglucoside) and omega-3 fats (ALA: alpha-linolenic acid) in flax appear to notably prevent cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
A study by Cunnane et.al., demonstrated that eating at least 2 tablespoons of ground flax daily for four weeks, reduced total cholesterol by 6-9% and LDL levels by 9-18% in healthy young adults, post-menopausal women and women with moderately high cholesterol levels.
Cancer
Colon Cancer
Flax seed, the richest source of mammalian lignan precursors, has been shown over the short term to decrease some early markers of colon cancer risk. One study determined that flax seed has a colon cancer protective effect.
Generous amounts of both insoluble (non-digestible form) and soluble (digestible form) Fibre are found in flax, which improves bowel care, by easing digestion and relieving constipation. Insoluble fibre increases stool weight directly by absorbing water molecules into their structure. Greater stool weights have been correlated with a reduced risk of colon cancer.
Breast Cancer
Research at the University of Toronto showed that when newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients ate 2 tablespoons of flax daily, lignans in flax inhibited their tumor growth. Lignan metabolites also bear a structural similarity to estrogens that bind to estrogen receptors and help to prevent the growth of estrogen-stimulated breast cancer.
Prostate Cancer
More studies are needed on regular ground flax comsumption and its effects on prostate cancer. Few studies regarding alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) suggest that it may have a beneficial role in treating prostate cancer. The lignans (SDG) in flax appear to decrease tumour growth of the prostate. This was evident in a study involving 25 men with prostate cancer. The subjects ate 30 g of ground flax a day for one month. The study revealed that the men with prostate cancer had decreased cancer cell growth when compared to a control group.