Flax Lignans
 Composition
of the flax seed
- Oil (38%)which is comprised mainly of:
- Alpha linolenic Acid (an Omega-3 fatty acid)
- Linolenic Acid (and Omega 6 fatty acid)
- Oleic Acid (an Omega 9 fatty acid which is also the
predominant fatty acid found in olive oil)
- Fiber (28%)
- Protein (19.5 %)
- Carbohydrates (6.5%) There are simple sugars, lignans,
phenolic acids and hemicellulose.
- Ash (4%) This is the inorganic components of the seed
that would be left after all the organic components of the
seed were burned off.
- Minerals (1.8%) Calcium, Iron, Phosphorous, Magnesium,
Potassium, Sodium, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Selenium
- Vitamins A, B1, B2, D, E, and Niacin (0.32%)
- Lecithin (0.15%)
- Flavonoids (0.1%)
- Phytic acid (0.1 %)
The essential fatty acids in flax oil are the best known
constituent of the flax seed. There has been lots of research
done on the use of flax seed in the treatment or prevention
of sickness and disease.
There is currently some information that shows the pure oil,
which is unstable at room temperature (and certainly unstable
at body temperature), to increase free radical oxidation at
the cellular level. Dr. Johanna Budwig, who pioneered the
use of flax seed oil stated repeatedly that the oil should
only be ingested along with a sulfated protein such as you
find in cottage cheese yogurt. In recent years this statement
is virtually unknown. The sulfated proteins in cottage cheese
offered some protection to the highly unsaturated oil so it
would not breakdown once in the body and oxidize. The lignans
and other anti-oxidants in the hull of the flax seed would
offer some degree of protection against free radical oxidation
if they were present as well. But the pure oil with nothing
to protect it may be actually be a bad choice even though
it does contain a good ratio of essential fatty acids. If
a person were to use the oil it is important to combine it
with food or vitamins that will protect it from oxidation.
Oxidation does not take place if the entire flax seed is
used shortly after grinding and many people have gone to grinding
their own flax seed. The oil in the seed is very stable until
it is separated from the seed (exposed to heat and oxygen).
Once the oil has been separated from the rest of the seed,
it no longer has the anti-oxidants and other protective factors
found in the hull. It is because of the instability of the
oil that has caused people to question the ingestion of the
pure oil and many health practitioners now instruct their
clients to only use the whole seed rather than the flax oil.
This coupled with the current research on flax hulls, show
the non oil part of the seed to be very health promoting.
Lignans are not abundant in the oil (they comprise less than
2% of the oil). They are, however, a part of the hull of the
seed and are packaged with all the other antioxidants and
protective factors in the seed. Lignans are a group of phytonutrients
which are found in all seeds and grains. Other sources of
lignans such as rye, buckwheat, millet, soya, and barley,
yield 2-5 micrograms of lignans per gram (mcg/g) of grain.
Flax seed yields an extraordinary 800 mcg/g of lignans.
Lignans were first discovered in flax seeds in the mid 1950's.1
The first interests in SDG's arose in the mid 1980's. Since
the seed is mostly fat and the lignans are such a small percentage
of the seed it has only been in recent years that there has
been a process which will highly concentrate the lignans of
the flax seed.
The lignan compounds have shown such extraordinary potential
that they have been studied by the National Cancer Institute
for their cancer preventative properties. The SDG lignan not
only has anti-cancer properties, it has anti-viral , anti-bacterial,
and anti-fungal properties. It is also a powerful anti-oxidant.
Most of the SDGs tested for their anti-oxidant activity have
shown themselves to be 5 time greater in activity than Vitamin
E. 4
Products claiming "High Lignan Flax Seed Oil" tested
by the University of North Dakota have been found to contain
practically no lignans at all. That is expected because the
lignans are not in the oil, they are in the hull of the seed.
"20% lignan particulates" does not mean it contains
20% lignans, but it means 20% of the product is made up of
pieces of the flax fiber shell which does contain the lignans.
Since fiber meal contains 1.6% lignans, such a product would
contain aobut 0.35% lignans. If the product is a liquid these
particles will settle to the bottom and no lignans will be
consumed until you are the end of the bottle unless it is
always shaken well before it is poured.
Another product says "up to 30% more lignans than the
whole flax seed." This is essentially a product consisting
mostly of the defatted flax fiber without the oil. There is
no concentration or extract of lignans., Such a product would
thus contain about 1.5% lignans, which was the highest level
of lignans available until recently.
Recently a dry mechanical process extraction process of removing
the oil and concentrating the lignans was developed by an
euntrapreneural man in North Dakota. The resulting meal is
only 10% oil and it is 90% flax hulls yielding the highest
concentration of SDG lignans available in the world. These
flax hulls contain about 45 mg of SDG per gram of meal. This
is about 7 times more concentrated than flax seed ground,
and because the oil is mostly removed it is shelf stable and
according to many naturopaths about 70 times more effective
that the flax seed alone. No competing products come close
to the concentrations of lignans found in our high lignan
flax product.
- Adlercreutz H., et al. "Excretion of the lignans
enterolactone and enterodiol and of ezuol in omnivorous
and vegetarian potmenopausal women and in women with breat
cancer"
- Bakke, J.E., and H.J. Kloesterman, "A new diflucoside
from flaxseed". Preceedings of the North Dakota Academy
of Science, 1956; 10:1 8-22
- Adlercreutz, H., Mazur, W. "Phyto-estrogens and Western
Diseases" Ann. Med., 19897,29(2):95-120
- Prasad, K. "Antioxidant Activity of Secoisolariciresinol
Ddiglycoside derived Metabolites, Secoisolariciresinol,
Enterodiol, and Enterolactone" Int. Journal of Angiology,
2000 Oct. 9(4): 220-225
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The essential fatty acids in flax oil are the best known
constituent of the flax seed. There has been lots of research
done on the use of flax seed in the treatment or prevention
of sickness and disease.
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