The Facts on Flax by Bruce Fife - Saturated Fats May Save Your Life

[Guest guest]

Group,

After reading our group posts, I went to the FlaxSeedOil group and

immediately saw this article. Because of its length, I copied only a

portion of it to paste here. This is a subject well worth our

educating ourselves about. bg

Excerpt from Mike's post begins:

From: Mike Cinelli <milpara@m...>

Date: Fri Jun 14, 2002 8:28 pm

Subject: Bruce Fife, N.D., on Flaxseed Oil

To all Flaxseed List Members,

Here is a most interesting article on Flaxseed Oil by Bruce

Fife,N.D., which

appeared on the Cocconut oil website to which some of us subscribe:

http://www.coconut-info.com/facts_on_flax.htm_flax.htm./ I beleive

there is

a lot of good in this article but as I answered, Dr. Budwig`s

protocol is

not Flaxseed oil alone: It is a combination of Flaxseed oil and

non-commercial low fat quark ( cottage cheese or yoghurt). Those of

us who

use it know it`s benefits which can also be found in Dr. Budwig`s

explanations. It`s unfortunate that all of her works are not

published in

English because we are at a disadvantage since we don`t know all of

what she

has written.

I feel that Bruce Fife has made a real contribution in warning us

about some

dangers re: freshness, commercialism, overuse of the oil alone, etc.

But I

wouldn`t substitute Fish Oil for my flaxseed plant oil, nor would I

stop

using the the Dr. Budwig combination. Having said that, I must also

say I

have been investigating adding [Extra Virgin] Coconut oil ( and am

searching for Palm Oil here in Taiwan ,too) to add to my diet in some

manner. The reputation of both of these oils has been desecrated by

food

processors , etc.,for too long and I`m glad to see them coming back

into

use .Any and all comments are appreciated.

Thanks and best, Mike Cinelli

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THE FACTS ON FLAX

By Bruce Fife, N.D.

excerpted from the book " Saturated Fats May Save Your Life "

GOOD AND BAD

Studies have shown that people who eat as little as one fish meal a

week can

reduce their risk of dying from cardiac arrest by fifty percent.1

Fish is

without question the best source for omega-3 fatty acids, because it

supplies EPA, the direct precursor to PGE3, the compound that

initiates

protective mechanisms against heart attack. Fish oil supplements are

believed to provide the same degree of protection as eating seafood,

but

many nutritionists do not recommend oil from fish liver because of the

possibility of contamination.

Many people nowadays are avoiding all types of meat and meat

byproducts,

including fish. These people prefer a vegetable source for omega-3

fatty

acids. Alpha-linolenic acid, which the body can convert into EPA, is

found

to some degree in many plants. Flaxseed contains the highest

percentage of

alpha-linolenic acid (57%) of any commercially grown plant. Because

of its

high alpha-linolenic acid content, flaxseed oil has become the leading

supplemental source for this essential fatty acid.

Over the past several years we have witnessed a flaxseed revolution.

A few

years ago no one ever heard of flaxseed, nowadays it's considered a

new

super nutrient. It's been hailed as a panacea for many ills. No

respectable

health food store would be caught dead without a half dozen assorted

varieties available for sale.

Both good and bad can be said about alpha-linolenic acid and flaxseed

oil in

general. Unfortunately, the bad is ignored in preference to promoting

only

the good. This has created the misconception that flaxseed oil

provides

great benefits with little risks. In reality, there are many risks.

Studies suggest that alpha-linolenic acid may be useful in treating

numerous

conditions. The most notable being: cancer, arthritis, irritable bowel

syndrome, hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease,

phrombosis,

dermatitis, lupus nephritis, and in lowering total cholesterol. If it

can do

all this, isn't that proof that flaxseed is a useful dietary

supplement? It

can appear that way, but if you understand how flaxseed oil works,

you would

consider it a dangerous drug to be used with extreme caution just as

you

would other powerful drugs, rather than look at it as a harmless

dietary

supplement.

The best thing that can be said about alpha-linolenic acid is that it

has a

neutralizing or balancing effect against the overconsumption of

linoleic

acid found in vegetable oils. Since vegetable oil consumption can

lead to

numerous health problems, alpha-linolenic acid can be useful in

reversing or

preventing these problems. The reason why flaxseed oil has been shown

to be

useful for so many health problems is because vegetable oils cause so

many.

Flaxseed can counterbalance these effects. In so doing, however, the

body

must suffer the ravages of internal warfare.

So in one respect, flaxseed oil can be very useful. But as a

consequence,

the body must suffer with side effects that can be every bit as

destructive

as a prescription drug. In most cases, alpha-linolenic acid

supplementation

is unnecessary because there are other ways to bring the essential

fatty

ac­ids in our bodies into balance without causing further harm.

Since alpha-linolenic acid is extracted from flaxseed, it is

considered a

" natural " substance and, therefore, regu­lated as a dietary

supplement.

Supplements, for the most part, are relatively harmless. But because

flaxseed oil is readily available to anyone, and because it is

recommended

for the treatment of just about every ailment from stomach ulcers to

kidney

disease, it is easy to take too much, and instead of suffering from an

excess of omega-6, like most everyone else, you may suffer from an

excess of

omega-3. The effects can be just as bad, if not worse.