Flax Seed

Flax seed

Information on Flax and Flax seed, such as what they are and what their benefits are.

What is Flax Seed?

Flax Seed is a plant with blue flowers that's mainly farmed in the Upper Midwest of the U.S. and Central Canada. These areas are superior because they hold the correct sort of soil that the fragile plant requires, dark and fertile. The brownish flax seed is farmed principally for linseed oil and paint products. Flax seed is farmed for the food industry; its nutty flavour melds well with a lot of baked products and with a lot of every day snack foods like yogurt and cereal.

The flax seed might be small, however the story behind it is big, even ancient. The seed was popular in Babylon approximately 6000 to 7000 years ago. The reason for such a fuss over a tiny seed is because it has significant plant fiber that's exploited to make linen. In the past the majority of clothing was either made of linen or wool.  Although cotton has become the most popular clothing fabric, flax is all the same among the most important fibrous plants in the world. If eating flax and wearing flax weren't sufficient, ancient people also applied it to create wicks and measuring lines.

What are the benefits of flax seed?

It is because of its high content of alpha linolenic acid that we now see flax seed as our modern miracle food. Alpha linolenic acid is a form of plant derived omega-3 fatty acid, much like those discovered in cold water fish like salmon. The benefits of flax seed as demonstrated in numerous studies include bringing down total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Additional benefits are that flax seed might also assist to bring down blood triglyceride levels and blood pressure. Flax might also stop platelets from getting sticky consequently lowering the chance of a heart attack.

Apart from alpha linolenic acid, flax seed is plentiful in lignan.  Researches have found that the lignan in flax seed demonstrates great hope in fighting disease, including a potential function in cancer prevention particularly breast cancer. It's believed that lignan metabolites might attach to estrogen receptors, thus suppressing the onset of estrogen induced breast cancer.

Flax might help alleviate the feeling of being bloated. Flax seed has loads of water soluble fiber, which should assist to make bowel movements softer, in addition to soothing any irritation that might possibly be present. On top of this, flax seed is a great source of Omega 3 & 6 essential fatty acids. For IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), flax seed is the single best diet addition or treatment available to most.

as with all nuts and seeds, flax has oils. Oils can go sour very fast with ground nuts and seeds. Air and light are the perpetrators of this, so it is suggested to freeze the ground seeds.