The Facts About Flax

The Facts About Flax

Okay, so who actually heard of flax seeds five years ago? I guess because they look like burnt sesame seeds or something that was likely part of the birdseed mix we fill our feeders with; these little seeds lived out their life in relative obscurity. That is until someone discovered they did have a redeeming value—and flavor wasn’t it! Flax seed moved from the shadows into the health spotlight when flax seeds were found to be a powerful source of omega 3 fatty acids—the heart disease and dementia fighting hero of the food world.

Quickly joining the ranks of other omega-3 celebrities—walnuts and salmon—people began sprinkling tiny flax seeds onto their cereal and adding them to their bread recipes. The commercial food industry responded quickly. Soon supermarkets were offering multigrain breads, cereals, and chips with whole flax seeds added to them. But therein lays the problem. We rushed into the flax seed craze so quickly that an important fact was overlooked; one which rendered all those flax seeds nearly powerless.

You see, our bodies don’t do such a great job of breaking through the black outer shell of the flax seed. Without access to the seed’s “internal organs”, all those omega 3’s stay locked inside unable to deliver their nutritional punch. The solution is to eat ground flax seeds, rather than whole seeds. On your next visit to the grocery store carefully read the ingredient labels of products touting “omega-3 power” from flax seeds. What you want to find are the words “flax seed flour” or “ground flax seed”. This way you can be assured that your flax seed enhanced purchase will provide you with all the omega-3’s that can be ground out of it!