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There are some subjects that are debated endlessly on the Internet, and fax oil seed is one of them.
From my observations, the original support for using flax seed oil came from people who believed that using parts of the Budwig Protocol would cure their cancer . Dr Budwig was German scientist who developed a very strict dietary regimen, two key parts of which were flax seed oil and a cottage cheese-like dairy product. There were no published studies to demonstrate the efficacy of the Budwig Protocol, although there are thousands of websites claiming that it works. Most of these websites do not give the full detail of the protocol.
The main objections to flax seed oil that I have seen relate to a strongly stated view from Dr Charles “Snuffy” Myers who used to post a good deal on the Internet as he worked his way through his diagnosis. He is a great believer in diet and changes of lifestyle as contributors to recover, managing cancer, good health – see Comprehensive Management Of Prostate Cancer but he was completely opposed to flax seed oil claiming that he had conducted experiments that flax seed oil encouraged the growth of prostate cancer cells, rather than inhibiting them. These experiments were ‘test tube’ ones and I personally was not convinced of their value.
Certainly one of the problems with flax seed oil is that it oxidises fairly rapidly and it is therefore difficult to process and store – and most people agree that stale oxidised oil isn’t much good. As I recall, for this reason the distinction is drawn between ground flax seed (good) and flax seed oil (not good).
To the best of my knowledge there are no good studies that demonstrate the truth of either of these views.
Terry has answered very well on the debates that have been around.
Strange; I recall flax oil was now thought not to help cholesterol. (May have come from Wiki on that point.)
Flaxseed oil, canola oil, and soybean oils etc. contain high amounts of ALA.
"According to Prostate Forum, several labs have found that ALA is one of the most powerful growth stimulants for human prostate cancer cells.
The Prostate Forum has recommended against the use of flax oil by men with prostate cancer. Since flax oil is the richest readily available food source of ALA, the reasoning goes, this oil should cause the most prostate cancer.
Sources of ALA used Studies that support One-Sided View The ‘ALA’ in population (epidemiologic) studies comes from two main sources: vegetable oil, and red meat animal products. Both were shown to correlate with similar increases in prostate cancer."
Godley PA et al. Biomarkers of Essential Fatty Acid Consumption and Risk of Prostatic Carcinoma. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention: A Publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, Vol. 5, p. 889-95, November 1996.
Giovannucci E et al. A Prospective Study of Dietary Fat and Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 85, No. 19, October 6, 1993, p. 1571 - 1579.
Gann PH et al. Prospective Study of Plasma Fatty Acids and Risk of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 86, No. 4, February 16, 1994, p. 281-6.
De Stefani E et al Alpha-linolenic acid and risk of prostate cancer: a case control study in Uruguay. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2000 Mar;9(3):335-8.
Harvei S et al. Prediagnostic Levels of Fatty Acids in Serum Phospholipids: n-3 and n-6 Fatty Acids and the Risk of Prostate Cancer. International Journal of Cancer, Vol. 71, p. 545-51, 1997.
Newcomer LM et al The association of fatty acids with prostate cancer risk. Prostate 2001 Jun 1;47(4):262-8.
Pandalai PK et al. The Effects of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids on in Vitro Prostate Cancer Growth. Anticancer Research, Vol. 16, p. 815-20, 1996.
My main concern is that flax oil still contains a relatively high amount of Omega 6, whilst fish oil gives us the benefit of higher O 3 ratios.
Is flaxseed/oil a natural food ? I think not.