Flaxseed Oil: Beware of Lignans
When I buy flaxseed oil, I have a choice: with or without lignans. I almost always choose without. Apparently that’s the right choice, witness this from the SLD forums:
I’ve been trying to figure out what besides overeating might cause these flare ups with my gallbladder. It seems clear from the last few days that one of the things that can set it off is Flax Seed Oil with lignans. When I consume 2-3 tablespoons a day of FSO without lignans, I don’t notice any problems. The FSO goes down easy and I don’t feel nausea or pain. But with the lignans I often do. To be sure, I decided to switch from FSO to ground up flax seeds mixed into my oatmeal. And today, the first time I tried that, an hour later the familiar nausea is back.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I purchase and intake flaxseed with lignans.
But only because that is all that’s offered at the health food stores in the midwest.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 am
huh. i’ve heard that men should take flaxseed w/ lingnans, because without lingnans there’s increased risk of prostrate cancer, which my family has a history of. For the record, at doses > 2tbsp I’ve experienced headaches with lingnans flaxseed. Cutting back my dosage to
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:27 am
oops, got cut off.
[continued]…cutting back my dosage to
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Yeah, the cancer thing freaks me out. I read a couple articles by doctors who would not recommend taking flaxseed oil without lignans due to the cancer risk.
But both doctors also concluded that more research needed to be done on the matter.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Anyone ever use hemp seed oil for getting the appropriate ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids?
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
The connection between prostate cancer and non-lignan FSO seems pretty weak to me. But I do want to do more. The Mayo Clinic has a page on FSO and it’s potential benefits and problems. The biggest takeaway from that page seems to be that there is a lot of room for more research. The prostate cancer/FSO connection seems the weakest.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:34 am
[...] Now these attacks are infrequent. I had several last fall, but I think I’ve only had two this year. The hypothesis that I’m currently working under is that starches in my diet aggravate it. The first few attacks I had were after large meals with lots of rice. I also noticed that the lignans that accompany flax seed oil also irritate it, as do ground flax seeds themselves (the oil without lignans seems to be fine). [...]