Buy Flax Seed - Everything You Need To Know.....

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Introducing Flax: what is it?

Flax is a plant and has been a stable part of farming for hundreds of years and every part of it was useable. The seeds for food and the production of linseed oil (another name for flax and is a good preserver of wood as well as good for our bodies) and the stems for example can be used to produce linen fibre for clothes and other products. The oil industry (petroleum) removed some of the needs of flax and so its production took a decline especially after the second world war.

What has kept the farming of flax alive across the world especially northern Europe and Russia has to be the health benefits that are reported; high in one of the essential fatty acids we need (omega 3 oil a.k.a. alpha-linolenic acid), dietary fibre, lignans, minerals and vitamins etc. If you search around the internet you will read lots of claims about just what a miracle seed flax is but a lot of research is needed to be done to scientifically confirm the claims. Flax can come in many form if you want to buy flax seed; flax seeds, flax seed meal and flax seed oil etc

So what does the flax plant look like?

Commonly cultivated flax plants are named Linum Usitatissimum L. The colour of its leaves can be anything from pale or dark blue to a whitish pink. The leaves are small and narrow and the plant doesn’t get much above 35 inches in height. The flowers produce round seed capsules and it is these that develope the flax seeds.

Seeds..

Flax seeds are oval and flat and range from light golden in colour to reddish brown. There seems to be a common belief that their nutritional values are about the same even though the golden colour seems more appealing to the shopper.

Flax Seed Oil:

Flax seed is approximately 40% oil by weight, and of that 55% alpha linolenic acid (a.k.a. omega-3 fatty acid).

In humans:

This omega 3 oil is an essential part of our diets because we cannot make it ourselves. It is converted in our bodies first to EPA and DHA (you might have heard of these when reading about fish oils) and then onto its biologically active form namely prostaglandin series 3 where it has lots of critical roles to play in our bodies.

Non-Human uses:

The alpha-linolenic acid causes the oil to dry quickly and this property is useful in quick drying paints and varnishes although its use in these products has declined in recent years. Any remaining parts of the seed after the oil has been removed is often just fed back into the livestock feed of cattle primarily but there is some use with chickens.