I take the flax oil capsules from wal-mart also but my doctor did recommend that I get flax seed but the reason he said to get it is to lower my cholesterol and he said that the gold flax seeds are the best...he told me to sprinkle them on my salads but I haven't gotten around to buying them yet...I am having bloodworlk done friday and I will see how these flax oil capsules are affecting my thyroid(hypothyroidism), cholesterol, and my triglycerides(missspelled I think)..I will post once I get my results if you want so you will see if there is a difference.