Flaxmatters.com Blog » benefits of flax seed

Flaxmatters.com Sponsors the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure North Florida

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:08:45 +0000

The 15th annual Susan G. Komen North Florida Race for the Cure will be held on Saturday, October 17 2009, at Metropolitan Park in Jacksonville, FL and Flaxmatters.com will be there to sponsor the event.

A little background on the organization, Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting for a world without breast cancer.

In 2008 the Susan G. Komen North Florida Race for the Cure had over 6,200 participants in the Race and raised more than $320,000. For the 2009 Susan G. Komen North Florida Race for the Cure, there is a set goal of 7,000 participants and $425,000 in income.

Flaxmatters.com will donate Mini Ultra Samples to participants in the event and hopes to help achieve the 2009 goal and help in the promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find cures.

Flax Hair Gel for Super Holding Power

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:58:46 +0000

For many years flax has been known for all of it’s great nutritional benefits, but just recently it has been found to be great for skin and hair health. Here is just one example of a great recipe for making flax hair gel.

To make flax gel:

~ large saucepan – you need room for the seeds to move around in the water

~ wire or nylon mesh strainer – as fine as you can find, but mine is pretty loose, so I passed the strained gel through a smaller one I have – the small wire mesh type you’d use for OJ pulp

~ large bowl – deep enough so that the gel can get through without the strainer touching the surface

~ small wire whisk – not the springy kind you jam up and down like a plunger, but the classic teardrop shaped kind

~ 4-5 oz bottle – for storing your finished gel

Pour 1 cup of water (not warm or hot – just cool from the tap) into a saucepan, then 1/4 cup of flax seeds and then turn the heat on high. Stir every so often to keep the seeds moving and keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once your water comes to a boil, stir gently, but almost constantly. When you start getting a thin, foamy jelly, turn the heat down a little, but keep stirring, watching for the point when you let the seeds settle for a second and they suspend in the clear jelly instead of sinking to the bottom.

Once you hit that point, shut off the heat, give one last stir, and immediately pour the liquid and seeds into the strainer over your bowl. I let the gel strain out of the seeds while I rinse my pan (don’t let the gel dry in there or you’ll have a mess to clean up later!), and then I lift the strainer and check for stray seeds in my gel. If there are any, I pour the gel back into the pan for a second while I swap strainers for my finer mesh, then pour the gel through again. Then, take the whisk and give the gel a good, quick beating (10 seconds or so), just to break up any really gelatinous strands there might be, and pour it into the bottle.

Sounds complicated, but the whole process takes only about 6-8 minutes. It has super holding power! You can also use it as a hairspray.

Flaxmatters Product Giveaway at Prissygreen

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Prissygreen is a great blog where you can find information on living and learning to live a green life relating to skin care, home care, health care eco-conscious clothing and decor and everything relating to a more well rounded eco friendly way of life!

You could easily win a free bag of Flax Pancake and Waffle Mix or MeadowPure Ultra Milled Golden Flax by visiting the site linked at the bottom of this post and commenting with some useful information that you found on Flaxmatters.com. For instance, did you know that flax can replace eggs in baked goods: 1 tablespoon milled flaxseed and 2-3 tablespoons water replaces 1 egg or that flax is an good source of fiber and can fill you up and keep you full longer making it a great addition to a high fiber or weight control diet. Another interesting fact is that flax can help to improve your skin and hair health.

http://www.prissygreen.com/2009/07/flaxmatters-review-and-giveaway.html

The Benefits of Using Flax Seed for Sports Performance

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:30:52 +0000

Flax seed has been around for quite some time, but it wasn’t until recently that many people realized just how beneficial it was for athletes. Flax seed contains high amounts of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), a type of Omega-3 fatty acid that is converted in the body to hormone-like compounds that play an important role in construction of healthy cell walls, transportation of oxygen to body cells, proper growth of tissues such as muscle, and metabolism of energy for the heart muscle. The proper metabolism of these fatty acids is especially beneficial for athletes participating in endurance sports to allow the athlete to continue on after their glycogen stores are used up.

ALA also plays a valuable role in inflammation and swelling that usually accompanies serious training as well as helps in muscle repair at the cellular level by improving the speed and quality of tissue repair.

Not only does flax provide these essential fatty acids, but flaxseed is an excellent source of protein which is usually an important component of an athlete’s diet. Flax is a very easy to add into any diet and works well in a daily protein drink where you can receive all the nutritional benefits of flax by adding about 1 tablespoon of milled flax. You can also try adding flax as a salad topper as you would sunflower seeds or croutons or mixed in with oatmeal or yogurt.
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Why Men Should Eat Flax Seed

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:26:46 +0000

There are various ways women can benefit from flax seed, including decreasing the occurrence of hot flashes and helping to prevent the risk of breast cancer. But is there any reason why men should add more flax seed to their diet? Indeed there is! In fact, there are several reasons men may want to eat more flax seed.

First, flax seed contains many nutrients that are beneficial to both men and women, and these are reason alone to consume flax seed. Flax includes the Omega-3 fatty acid alpha linolenic acid, and more. Flax seeds also contain fiber and antioxidants. Our bodies need all of these to be healthy, especially the Omega-3 fatty acids. Many people believe these fatty acids can only come from fish, but they actually appear in several other types of foods as well. By adding flax seed to your diet, you add another source of Omega-3 fatty acids. This is a great way for those who do not enjoy eating fish to get these essential nutrients.

However, these are benefits that both genders can enjoy. What does flax seed offer men exclusively? Well, the main reason men may want to add flax seed to their diet is that flax seed can help prevent prostate cancer and prostate tumor growth. In one study, men consumed 30 grams of flax seed every day for a month before having surgery for prostate cancer. These men were then compared to a group of men who had the same surgery but did not consume flax seed. The men who added flax seed to their diet had many fewer complications and had an easier time with the surgery overall. Researchers believe this was because the Omega-3 fatty acids in flax seed actually stopped cancer cells from clinging to other cells, while the lignans slowed the blood supply to the tumor.

Like many studies, further research is necessary to confirm these effects. However, it appears that flax seed is very beneficial to those with prostate cancer and may, in fact, help prevent prostate cancer in men.

Flax Helps Protect Against Breast Cancer by Influencing Estrogen Metabolism

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:23:07 +0000

Breast cancer is hormone-sensitive, meaning that in the early stages, tumor growth is influenced by the sex hormones, particularly estrogen and its metabolites. The biologically active form of estrogen is estradiol, which is oxidized mainly in the liver to estrone. Estrone can be converted to two metabolites with different biologic effects- 2-hydroxyestrone has little biologic activity, while 16∝-hydroxyestrone enhances estrogen activity and promotes uncontrollable tumor cell growth or cell proliferation, as it is called. Women who produce more 16∝-hydroxyestrone may have an increased risk of breast cancer. Two clinical studies found postmenopausal women who ate a diet supplemented with 10g or 25g of milled flax for 7 weeks or 16 weeks2 increased the excretion of 2-hydroxyestrone in their urine, without increasing the excretion of 16∝-hydroxyestrone. In these studies, flax consumption shifted the balance toward production of the relatively inactive metabolite of estrogen, thus supporting a role for flax seed in breast cancer prevention.

Dr. Diane H. Morris

Flax Lignans Have Anticancer Effects in Breast Tissue

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:40:27 +0000

Flax Lignans Have Anticancer Effects in Breast Tissue

Large-scale population studies show that diets right in lignans are associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. Flax and its lignans help protect against breast cancer by altering the metabolism of estrogen and by decreasing cell proliferation, according to findings from a small number of clinical studies. The animal data is strong- flax and its main lignans interfere with cancer processes and inhibit metastasis of mammary (breast) tumors to the lungs and other organs. One animal study found that the combination of flax and tamoxifen was better at decreasing tumor size in mice than tamoxifen alone. Eating flax regularly may reduce breast cancer risk and improve the clinical prognosis for women with breast cancer.

Whole flax seeds and milled flax are excellent sources of lignans. Indeed, flax is the richest known dietary source of lignans. Lignans are phytoestrogens- plant compounds that can affect estrogen metabolism in animals and humans. The main flax lignan is secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG). SDG is converted to the enterolignans or mammalian lignans- namely, enterodiol and enterolactone- by the action of bacteria in the colon. Human and animal studies support a role for flax and its lignans in breast cancer prevention and control.

Dr. Diane H. Morris

Thompson LU, et al. Nutr Cancer. 2006; 54:184-201
Morris DM Flax- A Heath and Nutrition Primer. Winnipeg, MB: Flax Council of Canada, 2007.

Adding Flaxseed to Any Meal

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:35:16 +0000

Flaxseed has been a part of a healthy human diet for much longer then you may realize. The first recorded use of flaxseed in cooking goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia where it has been growing for many thousand years. Back then of course it was used for food, but was also rich in folklore and had many other purported benefits. But what are some of the ways the we can enjoy flaxseed today?

Adding flax seed to your diet can be incredibly easy— cereals, yogurt and pasta, just to name a few. However, that can get old very quickly, and you may not even eat those types of food on a regular basis. If that’s the case, don’t worry. There are ways you can add flax seed and its various incarnations to any meal.

First of all, many grocery stores now carry various types of food with flaxseed already in them. Many baked goods contain milled flax seed, making it easy to incorporate these foods into your diet. You may also find it interesting to know that milled flax can be used as a fat or egg replacement in recipes, 1 tablespoon of milled flax seed and 2-3 tablespoons water replaces 1 egg and 3 tablespoons of milled flaxseed can replace 1 tablespoon of margarine, butter, or cooking oil.

The fiber in flaxseed will fill you up and keep you full longer making flaxseed a valuable addition to a weight loss (or control) diet. Try starting your day off with a smoothie, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of milled flax.

Everyone in the family can enjoy flax, while sometimes it is hard to get children to eat healthy; it is easy to hide milled flaxseed in thicker soups, pasta sauces, burgers, meatloaf, casseroles and bread dough.

All About Flaxseed & Omega-3’s from Kitchen Spaces & the Flax Council of Canada

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:16:30 +0000

Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Aging

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:17:57 +0000

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness in industrialized countries. DHA is a key fatty acid found in the retina. Epidemiological studies examining the association between DHA or fish intake and AMD have generally shown a protective relationship. Consumption of more than 4 servings of fish/week are associated with a 35% lower risk of AMD compared with less or equal to 3 servings per month. Similar results were observed in a recent prospective cohort study involving 261 participants aged sixty years or older at baseline.

In 261 subjects followed by researchers over a 4.6 year period, 101 participants with diagnosed AMD progressed to advanced AMD. The intake of fish more than twice a week was associated with a lower rate progression to advanced AMD. The National Eye Institute division of the National Institutes of Health is planning a randomized double-blinded study that will evaluate the association between DHA intake and the rate of disease progression in greater than 4000 AMD patients.