Flaxseed oil vs. ground seeds - Vitamins & Supplements Message Board

popeye77 · 03-21-2005, 05:57 PM

Sorry to bring this Flaxseed thing up again. I've been taking High Lignan Flaxseed oil for about a year. At 240 lbs. I take about 2+tablespoons a day. I'm 58 and it's releived a lot of joint pain without any other medication. So I'm sold on it's value. I recently started buying and grinding whole flaxseeds. I did this kinda on a whim and did it mainly cause frankly I can use more fiber. My question is obviously it's gotta take a whole lot of whole pressed flaxseeds to = one tablespoon of oil. Should I take 3-4 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds a day, or 2 tablespoons of ground and one of oil to obtain suficiant results. As a test I laid off all flaxseed product for a week and joint pain started to return. So I'm convinced the stuff works. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks, Jim

rheanna · 03-22-2005, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrmcxx

Sorry to bring this Flaxseed thing up again. I've been taking High Lignan Flaxseed oil for about a year. At 240 lbs. I take about 2+tablespoons a day. I'm 58 and it's releived a lot of joint pain without any other medication. So I'm sold on it's value. I recently started buying and grinding whole flaxseeds. I did this kinda on a whim and did it mainly cause frankly I can use more fiber. My question is obviously it's gotta take a whole lot of whole pressed flaxseeds to = one tablespoon of oil. Should I take 3-4 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds a day, or 2 tablespoons of ground and one of oil to obtain suficiant results. As a test I laid off all flaxseed product for a week and joint pain started to return. So I'm convinced the stuff works. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks, Jim

Jim,

Some info I've found to help you make your decisions about ground flax seed vs flax oil:

From the Flax Council of Canada:

"While flax oil is an excellent source of ALA (omega-3 alpha-linolenic fatty acid), it contains no lignans. The lignans have been stripped away with the seed."

Fat substitutes in diet: use 3 Tbsp (45mL) ground flaxseed for each 1 Tbsp (15mL) margarine, butter or cooking oil. Baked goods will brown more quickly.

From USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17 (2004):

1 Tbsp flax oil = 13.6g (weight) = 13.6g total fats, 120 kcal, 1.727g omega-6, 7.249g ALA omega-3, no fiber, no carbos, no protein, no water

1 Tbsp flaxseed (not ground) = 12g (weight), 59 kcal, 4.08g fat total, 3.3g fiber, 4.11g carbo, 2.34g protein, 1.05 g water, 0.518g omega-6, 2.175 ALA omega-3.

So it does look like about 3 1/2 Tbsp (42g) flaxseed would give you about the same omega-3 as 1 Tbsp flax oil (2.175g x 3.5 = 7.6g in seed vs 7.249g in oil), with added fiber and protein.

--Rheanna

popeye77 · 03-22-2005, 07:24 AM

Wowee....... thats a lot of ground flaxseed to take in one day. So I'll probably go 50/50 with ground and oil......... rheanna: Much thanks for your info.

jazzyE · 03-22-2005, 08:01 AM

3T is really not that much. I grind up my flax seeds and mix it with juice or rice milk. I think it's a much better taste than the oil alone.

popeye77 · 03-22-2005, 12:07 PM

Unless I'm missing something......I've been taking about 2.5 tablespoons of oil a day. That would equate to 8+ tablespoons of ground faxseed. So I'm thinking of something like 3-4 tablespoons ground and 1 of oil per day.