I'm reading Susan Weed's book on menopause and she says that people shouldn't take flax oil capsules for more than a few months because of cancer risk. However, she says it is ok to use cold pressed oil or grind your own flax seeds. Is this a recognized position?

hi
this is reaqlly strange,because my vet is rxing this for our bullmastif,who had cancereous systs removed,along with some other vitamens to help prevent them from coming back,I have switdhed him to the golden flax seeds,because it is easier than the big jell cap to put in his food.I have been taken the capsil for many years to help with my m.s.Who really knows.No cancer here,just m.s.and diabetes

I take the position that my cancer risk is so dramatically reduced by living healthy, that a couple of flax capsules aren't going to be where the problem is. And I take up to 10 a day.

I don't get it. What's the difference between cold-pressed flax oil that comes in a bottle versus cold-pressed flax oil that comes in softgels?

I'm not sure either, but apparently there is a difference, since I've read that you would need to take 15 capsules a day to equal the benefit of a straight tablespoon of the oil.

In mine, one oil capsule has 10 or 12 calories. A spoonful of the oil has about 120 calories. Therefore, I assume the spoonful has about the same amount of oil as 10 capsules. Cheaper to buy the oil in the bottle, if you can keep it refrigerated; I'm on the road this week and capsules were the only option. I use the oil on salads when I am at home.

As the others have stated, there's no difference between the flax oil in capsules or the oil in a bottle .. except for the risk that capsules may not be fresh, and that you need to take a LOT of capsules to get the same dose as 1 Tbsp or more of the liquid.

As for the supposed link between flax and cancer .. this is a myth, based on a misunderstanding about phytoestrogens. Flax seed contains phytoestrogens (most plants do, to a greater or lesser degree) but that doesn't mean they act "just like estrogen" in the body. The phytoestrogens in flax are able to hook up to receptors on cells which normally hook up to estrogen. This effectively blocks the effects of excess estrogen on the cells, and is very beneficial. In fact, scientific studies have shown that flax can PREVENT cancers, such as breast, ovarian, prostate and testicular .. and recent studies suggest that daily flax consumption lessened the risk of reccurence in women who already had breast cancer The phytoestrogens are found only in the ground whole seed, not in the oil.


hth,

Doreen