sana › Seeds & Nuts › Flaxseed
Flaxseed · Linum usitatissimum
Photo: (c) Yves Bas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · via iNaturalist
Seeds & Nuts
Flaxseed
Linum usitatissimum
The same plant gives linen and linseed oil. Its species name means most useful, which is about as plain as botanical naming gets.
Benefits
Ground flaxseed brings both readings down. It is a slow one, and months is the timescale.
Ground flaxseed brings total cholesterol, the harmful kind and blood fats all down. The oil does none of it.
What It Is Known For
Ten trials of the oil found no effect on cholesterol at all, while nineteen of the whole seed did.
Not tested here and not claimed here.
The trials that worked ran twenty weeks and longer, and the ones that did not were shorter.
Key Active Compounds
The compounds flaxseed is measured by.
The form used. A whole seed passes through unbroken.
How to Take It / Use It
Stir two heaped tablespoons of ground flaxseed into food each day. Grind it yourself, and give it a few months.
Cautions
A whole seed passes through unbroken, so grinding is not optional.
It is a bulking fiber, so drink water with it.
It lowers blood pressure, so it adds to the effect of medicine already doing that.
Where It Comes From
Flax was among the first plants ever farmed, grown in the Fertile Crescent for fiber and for seed. Canada grows most of the world's crop today.
How We Choose It
We check every product so you don't have to. A flaxseed only makes our list if:
- Whole seed, not pre-ground. Ground flaxseed goes rancid within weeks, and rancid is what you can taste.
- Brown or golden, it makes no difference. The color is the variety and not the strength.
- Not flaxseed oil. The oil carries none of the fiber and is not what was tested.
- Kept cold once ground. Grind what you need and keep the rest of the seed dry and dark.
If no product meets these standards, we don't list one. No exceptions for affiliates.
See our picks
Sources2
- Effect of flaxseed supplementation on blood pressure: meta-analysis of 33 trials. Food & Function, 2023. Meta-analysis
- Comparisons of the effects of different flaxseed products on lipid profiles: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. Nutrition & Metabolism, 2021. Meta-analysis