by Lisa Armano

Created on: March 02, 2008

Flax seed has been used as a healing food for thousands of years, with accounts of use by ancient Greeks and Egyptians, in the Roman Empire, and as being one of the original "medicines" used by Hippocrates. Unfortunately, within the last 100 years, modern methods of food processing, combined with preferences for wheat and other less nutritious enriched grain products, have removed the vital nutrients of valuable essential fatty acids, dietary fiber, and cancer preventing phytonutrients from our food chain. Flax seed consumption has become a current interest because of its high content of Omega-3 fatty acid, but also due to its extremely high lignan content.

Lignan is a type of phytoestrogen (antioxidant). Research has shown that lignan in flax seed has a lot of promise in fighting disease including breast cancer. It is thought that lignan metabolites can bind to estrogen receptors, which inhibits the onset of estrogen-stimulated breast cancer. Dr. Paul Goss, director of the Breast Cancer Prevention Program in Toronto, presented research of a control group of women with recently diagnosed cancer. 50% were given 50 grams of flax seed in a muffin every day for a period of 40 days or less after diagnosis. Every woman from the control group who ate the muffins displayed slower growing tumors than those who had not. It was determined that these woman were much more likely to survive their cancers. Lignan studies also show that it may interfere with the development of prostate and colon cancer, as well as other tumors in the human body.

Flax seed oil is the world's most abundant source of Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA) at almost 60%. ALA is a plant-derived Omega 3 Fatty Acid, similar to those found in fish such as salmon. Omega-3 is an Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) and must be supplied through our diets, as it is not naturally synthesized by our bodies.

EFAs increase metabolic rate, improve metabolism, increase oxygen uptake, and increase energy production. EFAs and their derivatives are components of membranes that surround each cell in our bodies. They are required for the transport and metabolism of cholesterol and triglycerides. They can lower high cholesterol levels by 25% and high triglycerides by 65%. They are required for normal development of the brain. EFAs also make a hormone-like substance in the body called prostaglandins. Prostaglandins regulate arterial muscle tone, sodium excretion through the kidneys, platelet stickiness (which reduces the risk of heart

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