Flaxseed is emerging as an important functional food because of its rich nutritional contents of healthy omega-3 acids, lignans, and dietary fiber. They have many potential health benefits, including symptom reduction in high burden diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, and even autoimmune and neurological disorders.
No without reason flaxseed, seems to be known as functional food, which can be incorporated into baked foods, juices, milk and dairy products, muffins, dry pasta and meat products.
What is flaxseed?
Flaxseed is a rich source of the omega-3 fatty acid, known as α-linolenic acid (ALA), dietary fibre and ligans (phytoestrogens), especially lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside. Flax is also excellent source of many vitamins (A, C, F and E) and minerals (P, Mg, K, Na, Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn).
Nutritional profile of flaxseed (100g):
Energy [kcal] 534
Fat[g] 41.0
Linoleic acid 23.0
Carbohydrate [g] 29.0
Dietary fibre [g] 28.0
Protein [g] 20.0
Lignans [mg] 10-2,600
Vitamins & minerals
Biotin [mg] 6.0
Thiamin [mg] 0.53
Riboflavin [mg] 0.23
Niacin [mg] 3.21
Folic acid [mg] 112
Pyridoxin [mg] 0.61
Pantothenic acid [mg] 0.57
Vitamin C [mg] 0.50
Vitamin E
α-Tocopherol [mg] 7.0
δ-Tocopherol [mg] 10.0
γ-Tocopherol [mg] 552
Lutein and zeaxanthin 0.65
Calcium [mg] 236
Copper [mg] 1.0
Magnesium [mg] 431
Manganese [mg] 3.0
Phosphorus [mg] 622
Potassium [mg] 831
Sodium [mg] 27
Zinc [mg] 4.0
The fat in flaxseed is an excellent source of essential fatty acids, including both omega-6 and omega-3 fats like linolenic and linoleic acids. Those fats are important for your health, and they are implicated in your body's immunological, cardiovascular and neurological functions.
Flaxseed is valuable source of alpha-linolenic acid, especially for those who follow a plant-based diet.
The protein content in flaxseed is usually between 20 to 30 % of all nutrients. Those proteins are mostly found as globulins (linin and conlinin) and glutelin.
Amino acids found in flaxseed are comparable to those from soybean. What can be important they are gluten-free. Despite rich nutritional value, flax protein is not a complete protein source – it’s lacking lysine. Nevertheless, flax contains bioactive peptides and is rich in glutamic acid, arginine, branched-chain amino acids (valine and leucine), as well as tyrosine and phenylalanine.
The majority of carbohydrate content in flaxseed is a dietary fibre, which include both soluble (mucilage gums) and insoluble fibers (cellulose and lignin).
By consuming only 10 g of flaxseed per day, you can increase your daily fiber intake by 1g of soluble fiber and by 3 g of insoluble fiber. That can be extremely beneficial for preventing constipation and improving digestion. On the other hand, soluble fiber helps in maintaining blood glucose levels and it might lower the blood cholesterol levels.
Flax contains up to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods. Ligans are bioactive compounds, which can act as both antioxidants and phytoestrogens. Ligans present in flax, such as secoisolariciresinol diglucoside, matairesinol, lariciresinol and pinoresinol are converted by your gut bacteria into phytoestrogens, known as enterodiol and enterolactone, which can provide many health benefits.
Flaxseed contains many vitamins, as well as minerals including vitamin E, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. Moreover, flaxseed is high in potassium, which helps to reduce formation of blood clots, lower blood pressure. Actually, consumption of 30g of milled flaxseed daily for 6 months can significantly decrease your blood pressure and prevent hypertension in the future (Rodriguez-Leyva et al., 2013).
Flaxseed – does colour matter?
Flaxseeds are available in two varieties: brown; and yellow or golden. Both of them have quite similar nutritional characteristics and equal concentrations of healthful omega-3 fatty acids.
Golden flaxseed is made up of about 37.5 percent fat, 23 percent protein and 30 percent carbohydrates, while brown flaxseed is made up of 38 percent fat, 24.5 percent protein and 28 percent carbohydrates. The only difference between golden and brown flaxseed is in the type of fat you can find.
Golden flaxseed appears to have more omega-3 fatty acids and less monounsaturated fatty acids, when compared to brown flaxseed. Consequently, golden flaxseed has more alpha-linolenic acid, than linoleic acid. Additionally, brown flaxseed has a substantially higher concentration of antioxidants, than golden flaxseed.
Variety of dietary flaxseed
There are various edible forms of flax are available in the food market—whole flaxseeds, milled flax, roasted flax, flax oil and even flax milk.
Milled flaxseed. Milled flaxseed is a grounded version of whole flaxseed. When compared with whole flaxseeds, they are better digestible, what allow your body to get all nutritional benefits. More often, you can find milled flaxseed mixed together with other functional foods, like berries or chia seeds.
Flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil is the richest plant source of the omega-3 fatty acid (73 %), including α-linolenic acid (39-60.42 %), and it is naturally low in saturated fatty acids (9 %), moderate in monosaturated fatty acids (18 %).
Of all lipids in flaxseed oil, α- linolenic acid is the major fatty acid, followed by oleic, linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids, which provides an excellent ω-6:ω-3 fatty acid ratio of approximately 0.3:1.
The bioavailability of ALA is dependent on the type of flax ingested (ALA has greater bioavailability in oil than in milled seed, and has greater bioavailability in oil and milled seed than in whole seed).
However, if you're consuming flaxseed in oil form, most of nutrients, including vitamin, minerals and dietary fibre won't be present, because flaxseed oil contains pure fat and lack most of the nutritional value that whole and ground flaxseed products contain.
Flax milk. Flax milk is finely milled flaxseed mixed with filtered water, which has been recently introduced to the food market as potential alternative to plant-based drinks like almond milk. Flax milk is high in ALA and is an excellent alternative to dairy milk, as it has no cholesterol or lactose. It is suitable for people allergic to soy, nuts and gluten, and it contains more health benefits than almond milk.
Health benefits of flaxseed
Benefits of eating flaxseed are endless, however some of them still need to be confirmed by research.
Reduce stroke risk: Potassium in flaxseeds might decrease formation of blood clots, and lower risk of stroke (Rodriguez-Leyva et al., 2013).
Help to maintain blood pressure & lower risk of hypertension: Consumption of just 30g of milled flaxseed daily for 6 months might significantly decrease your systolic and diastolic blood pressure and prevent hypertension in the future (Rodriguez-Leyva et al., 2013).
Improve lipid profile and reduce atherosclerosis: Dietary fibre from flaxseed is essential for healthy digestive system function and can help lower your levels of cholesterol and improve lipid profile (Caligiuri et al., 2014).
Promotes gut health and digestion: Flaxseed is a pre-biotic food, which nourish your gut bacteria, as well as it increases their abundance (Brahe et al., 2015). I also help to eliminate some of pathogenic species of Proteobacteria and Porphyromonadaceae from the microbiome.
Furthermore, dietary fibers in flax help to resolve chronic constipation, and they can improve stool consistency over time (Soltanian and Janghorbani, 2018). Also, by adding just 30g of flax to everyday diet, you can reduce symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome (Cockerell et al., 2012).
Prevent obesity and help to maintain body weight: Dietary fibers in flaxseed appear to be an effective in suppressing appetite. Those fibers forms a viscous solution, which delay gastric emptying and improves nutrient absorption from the small bowel (Kristensen et al., 2011).
Reduces blood glucose: Flaxseed has very low glycemic index, so it does not cause glucose spikes. Also, rich content of dietary fibers and lignans can reduce blood glucose in subjects with type 2 diabetes (Soltanian and Janghorbani, 2018) and lower blood glucose in pre-diabetic individuals (Hutchins et al., 2013).
Promotes brain health: Nutrients found in flaxseed supports your brain and cognitive functions. Especially antioxidants like vitamin E helps to reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. Also, flax has potential to bring some anti-depressant effects upon stress (Ma et al., 2013).
Improves skin condition: Vitamins from flax are highly beneficial for your skin, and they can improve its sensitivity, roughness and scaling, and also increase hydration and smoothness (Neukam et al., 2011).
Reduces post-menopausal symptoms: adding between 40-90g of flaxseed daily can help to improve quality of life and menopausal symptoms, including reduction of hot flashes incidences (Cetisli et al., 2015). Also, flaxseed might bring some benefits for bone health and prevent osteoporosis by reducing bone resorption in post-menopausal women (Arjmandi et al., 1998).
Protect against certain cancers: Flax has 75 to 800 times more lignans than other commonly consumed fruits, vegetables and grains. Those bio-compounds are also known to help prevent cancer — particularly breast, colon, prostate, gut and lung cancer (Mali et al., 2019).
Daily supplementation with 25g of milled flaxseed have shown to reduce risk of primary breast cancer and mortality in women living with breast cancer (Flower et al., 2018).
Tips for adding flaxseed in your diet
Flaxseed has been easily incorporated in different foodstuffs, including successfully into snack bars, muffins, bagels, bread, buns, tea biscuits, cinnamon rolls and pasta.
Among of all those foods, the most commonly, flaxseed is added to baked goods, as egg substitute. Interestingly, baking process even up to 178 ℃ for two hours does not alter the composition or nutritional content of flax.
Flaxseed perfectly matches flavourings like banana and nuts, banana chocolate chip, cinnamon apple raisin, cinnamon raisin, cinnamon spice, gingerbread raisin, cappuccino chocolate chip, sunflower sesame and cranberry orange.
So, where you can add your flax in your cooking?
You can start with adding a tablespoon or two of meal a day, and see how do you like it. I would recommend to start with sweet combinations, but you can always move to savoury dishes as well.
Flaxseed works well in savoury and sweet recipes:
Egg substitute in vegan recipes. You can use just 2 tablespoons of flax with 2 tablespoons of water to replace 1 egg.
Flaxseed and potential adverse effects – are there any?
Although, clinical studies did not report any toxicity associated with consumption of flaxseed, some compounds within flaxseed itself, such as cyanogenic glycosides and linatine, can be toxic.
Cyanogenic glycosides, such as amygdalin, linamarin, linustatin, neolinustatin, lotaustralin are nitrogenous plant metabolites, which were found not only in flaxseed, but are also in other mostly consumed plants including apples, spinach, almonds and cassavas. When it comes to cyandine contents in flax, studies failed to show any toxic effects, even after consumption of 15–100 g of flaxseed – you wound normally consume around 30g (Cressey and Reeve, 2019).
Even if theoretically, 1–2 tablespoons of flaxseed will produce approximately 5–10 mg of cyanide after ingestion, this is highly unlikely to cause any adverse reactions.
Take away
Use of milled flaxseed has many health benefits for your the body. Although cardiovascular disease and cancer are probably the best researched areas that have shown convincing evidence of a positive action for dietary flaxseed, other areas like digestive health and diabetes have can benefit from dietary flaxseed.
Bibliography:
Parikh M, Maddaford TG, Austria JA, Aliani M, Netticadan T, Pierce GN. Dietary Flaxseed as a Strategy for Improving Human Health. Nutrients. 2019 May; 11(5): 1171.
Available here.
Goyal A, Sharma V, Upadhyay N, Gill S, Sihag M. Flax and flaxseed oil: an ancient medicine & modern functional food. J Food Sci Technol. 2014 Sep; 51(9): 1633–1653.
Available here.
Golden flaxseed vs brown flaxseed. Livestrong. Available here.
More resources to follow:
Rodriguez-Leyva D, Weighell W, Edel AL, LaVallee R, Dibrov E, Pinneker R, Maddaford TG, Ramjiawan B, Aliani M, Guzman R, Pierce GN. Potent antihypertensive action of dietary flaxseed in hypertensive patients. Hypertension. 2013 Dec; 62(6):1081-9.
Caligiuri SP, Aukema HM, Ravandi A, Guzman R, Dibrov E, Pierce GN. Flaxseed consumption reduces blood pressure in patients with hypertension by altering circulating oxylipins via an α-linolenic acid-induced inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase. Hypertension. 2014 Jul; 64(1):53-9.
Soltanian N, Janghorbani M. A randomized trial of the effects of flaxseed to manage constipation, weight, glycemia, and lipids in constipated patients with type 2 diabetes. Nutr. Metab. 2018;15:36.
Flower G, Fritz H, Balneaves LG, Verma S, Skidmore B, Fernandes R, Kennedy D, Cooley K, Wong R, Sagar S, Fergusson D, Seely D. Flax and Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review. Integr Cancer Ther. 2014 May; 13(3):181-92.
Mali AV, Padhye SB, Anant S, Hegde MV, Kadam SS. Anticancer and antimetastatic potential of enterolactone: Clinical, preclinical and mechanistic perspectives. Eur J Pharmacol. 2019 Jun 5; 852():107-124.
Ma X, Wang R, Zhao X, Zhang C, Sun J, Li J, Zhang L, Shao T, Ruan L, Chen L, Xu Y, Pan J. Antidepressant-like effect of flaxseed secoisolariciresinol diglycoside in ovariectomized mice subjected to unpredictable chronic stress. Metab Brain Dis. 2013 Mar; 28(1):77-84.
Cetisli NE, Saruhan A, Kivcak B. The effects of flaxseed on menopausal symptoms and quality of life. Holist Nurs Pract. 2015 May-Jun; 29(3):151-7.
Dodin S, Lemay A, Jacques H, Légaré F, Forest JC, Mâsse B. The effects of flaxseed dietary supplement on lipid profile, bone mineral density, and symptoms in menopausal women: a randomized, double-blind, wheat germ placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 Mar; 90(3):1390-7.
Arjmandi B, Juma S, Lucas E, Wei L, Venkatesh S, Khan D. Flaxseed supplementation positively influences bone metabolism in postmenopausal women. JANA. 1998;1:27–32.
Neukam K, De Spirt S, Stahl W, Bejot M, Maurette JM, Tronnier H, Heinrich U. Supplementation of flaxseed oil diminishes skin sensitivity and improves skin barrier function and condition. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2011; 24(2):67-74.
Caligiuri SP, Aukema HM, Ravandi A, Pierce GN. Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory oxylipins in older subjects are normalized by flaxseed consumption. Exp Gerontol. 2014 Nov; 59():51-7.
Brahe LK, Le Chatelier E, Prifti E, Pons N, Kennedy S, Blædel T, Håkansson J, Dalsgaard TK, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Astrup A, Ehrlich SD, Larsen LH. Dietary modulation of the gut microbiota--a randomised controlled trial in obese postmenopausal women.Br J Nutr. 2015 Aug 14; 114(3):406-17.
Cockerell KM, Watkins AS, Reeves LB, Goddard L, Lomer MC. Effects of linseeds on the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome: a pilot randomised controlled trial. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2012 Oct; 25(5):435-43.
Kristensen M, Savorani F, Christensen S, Engelsen SB, Bügel S, Toubro S, Tetens I, Astrup A. Flaxseed dietary fibers suppress postprandial lipemia and appetite sensation in young men. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013 Feb; 23(2):136-43.
Parikh M, Netticadan T, Pierce GN. Flaxseed: Its bioactive components and their cardiovascular benefits. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 2018;314:H146–H159.
Comments
Post a Comment