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Cold-Pressed Flaxseed Oil
I've tried a bunch of cooking oils, but this cold-pressed flaxseed oil is a total game-changer. It's unrefined, made from 100% flaxseed, and packs a rich, nutty flavor that's perfect for dressing up salads or sautéing veggies. Plus, it's a great source of omega-3s and has a high smoke point, making it ideal for high-heat cooking. I've been using it for a while now, and I'm really impressed with its quality and value for money - it's definitely worth the investment.
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My Flaxseed Oil Fiasco: How a Plant-Based Oil Almost Ruined My Health
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I thought I was doing my body a favor by taking 2 tablespoons of cold-pressed flaxseed oil every day, but it almost ruined my health. I'm not exaggerating – the side effects were real. I started taking it to alleviate hot flashes, but it only made things worse. I've been a medical professional for years, but even I was misled by the benefits of plant-based oils. It's a wake-up call for anyone considering flaxseed oil supplements. Don't make the same mistake I did – read on to learn from my experience. I took the oil for several weeks, and the side effects started to pile up. I experienced severe digestive issues, including bloating and gas, which made me feel uncomfortable and lethargic. The oil also made my hot flashes worse, not better, which was a major disappointment. I had to deal with skin breakouts and acne, which was a new issue for me, and my hair started falling out in clumps, which was alarming. The side effects were so severe that I had to stop taking the oil altogether.
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We've been taught for decades that plant-based oils are super beneficial, and animal fats and oils are only necessary in tiny amounts or not at all if you're consuming plant-based oils. We were sold on low-fat products.
I was taught the same thing in medical school. But then I found myself in a situation where I had to revisit the topic of fats in nutrition. It happened because I'd been taking 2 tablespoons of cold-pressed flaxseed oil every day for almost 3 years. At first, I added it to salads and steamed veggies, and then I took it on an empty stomach to help my digestive system.
I took different types of flaxseed oil, including homemade:
I was super picky about choosing the oil to avoid buying rancid oil. I liked "Annuška" oil, which I bought at the pharmacy.
I started taking it because of the hot flashes I was experiencing due to my age. I started with 1 tablespoon a day, but it didn't work, so I increased it to 1.5 tablespoons, and then to 2 tablespoons. I'd read on Pubmed that taking flaxseed oil during menopause could help reduce symptoms, with a recommended daily dose of up to 50 grams to get optimal levels of phytoestrogens.
After 2 weeks of taking 2 tablespoons a day, I noticed significant relief. The intense hot flashes that left me sweaty and dizzy every 40 minutes during the day and night were happening only 3-4 times a day after 2 weeks, and only 1-2 times a day after a month, usually in the mornings.
I've also noticed that my morning puffiness around my eyes, which started a few years ago and was probably linked to hormonal changes, completely disappeared. I was thrilled and got hooked on taking it daily, as I noticed that if I stopped, the puffiness would come back. Plus, many sources recommend taking flaxseed oil daily in doses of 2-3 tablespoons - it's basically food.
I've noticed that I'm losing less hair. My nails, which are prone to splitting, and my heels, which often get cracks, didn't change at all. My weight remains the same.
I felt great overall. My weight, blood pressure, sugar levels, hemoglobin, and TSH were all back to normal.
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Fast forward to my regular check-up, which included a lipid profile (blood test for cholesterol and its subtypes), I was worried that my husband, who eats everything in sight, might have some changes. I was calm about myself, though, since my diet was packed with veggies, fruits, salads, and greens (I buy them from friends who grow their own); I was taking flaxseed oil daily; I was eating whole grains, beans, lean meats, low-fat dairy, and eggs mostly in meals. Plus, I don't smoke, my weight and blood pressure are normal, and I rarely get sick.
My husband's lipid profile turned out to be normal, but mine... my overall cholesterol was through the roof at 9.3 (normal is up to 5.2)! And my LDL (bad cholesterol) was also super high at 6.89 (normal is up to 4).
- Overall cholesterol: 9.3 (normal is up to 5.2)
- LDL (bad cholesterol): 6.89 (normal is up to 4)
Apolipoproteins were also elevated:
I've come to realize that apolipoproteins are a more telling indicator of lipid balance issues. My ratio of ApoB to ApoA1, which I calculated myself, was 1.05 (ideally below 1).
I was surprised, to say the least. I'd thought I was doing everything right - I'm super active, no extra weight, no diabetes, hypertension, or thyroid issues, as I'd mentioned before. No smoking, and I only drink occasionally (about once every six months to a year). So, I figured it must be down to my diet?
I started digging into that, and it turns out that my diet really does need an overhaul! I read Dr. K. Monastyrsky's book on functional nutrition, D. Perlmutter's 'Food and the Brain', articles by physiologist Dr. Ray Peat, endocrinologist Dr. D. Lebedeva, and many, many more.
It seems that the diet that helped me so much with my hot flashes has actually caused an increase in my main lipid profile indicators (more on that below). And that's exactly what needs to change to get my lipid balance back on track.
I switched to LCHF dieting, which means low-carb, high-fat. I started adding coconut oil and 20-30% cream to my morning coffee, eating two eggs and 100g of hard cheese for breakfast, cooking sautéed veggies with oil, meat, and herbs for lunch, and a salad with meat or two slices of non-smoked bacon for dinner. By the way, many LCHF fans recommend plant-based fats, including flaxseed oil, so I continued taking that too.
I was worried I'd gain weight, but in the end, I even lost some, even though I wasn't exactly overweight to begin with. And it's all because I significantly cut down on carbs. I wrote a detailed review about low-carb diets, including before and after photos, which you can find here.
However, after a month, my cholesterol levels went up a bit, both overall and the 'bad' kind:
I wasn't too happy about that, but I hadn't stopped using flaxseed oil, so I continued taking it for the whole month.
Then I stopped taking flaxseed oil altogether and stuck to the LCHF diet.
Results after 3.5 months:
My overall cholesterol levels while taking flaxseed oil were 9.3 - 9.87, and after stopping it and switching to saturated fats, they dropped to 8.26
My LDL (low-density lipoprotein) levels while taking flaxseed oil were 6.89 - 7.71, and after stopping it, they dropped to 5.67!
What's important is that my APO B (a separate indicator that's not as significant) came back to normal: it was 3.09 and then dropped to 2.67 (normal is below 3).
Because, let's be real, overall cholesterol levels don't tell you much - it's a mix of different protein and fat combinations. What's much more important is the APO B level, which shows whether your lipid balance is in check or not.
I've got to say, another crucial factor that's really impressed me is the apoB/apoA1 ratio - it's now a perfect 0.83, down from 1.05 when I was taking flaxseed oil (ideally, it should be around 1). That's because my apoB levels have dropped significantly, from 1.98 to 1.53.
It's these ratios, not my overall cholesterol or individual lipidogram readings, that really matter when it comes to assessing my cardiovascular risk.
I'm pretty stoked about this result, especially since I haven't been taking any statins or other cholesterol-lowering meds for the past 3.5 months.
Of course, it'll take more time for all my readings to get back to normal:
The fat from the food I've been eating takes around 600 days to clear from my system - that's roughly four years. So, even after I stop consuming these oils, a significant amount will still be hanging around in my body (Beynen, A. C., P. J. J. Hermus, and J. G. A. J. Hautvast, 'A mathematical relationship between the fatty acid composition of the diet and that of the adipose tissue in man,' Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 33(1), 81-5, 1980).
I've been trying to figure out why, when I was mainly using plant-based oils in my diet, I had a lipid imbalance, but when I completely ditched flaxseed oil and switched to a diet rich in animal fats (butter, cream, full-fat cheese, sour cream, and bacon) with a small amount of coconut oil, my blood lipid ratios became perfect.
I've spent a lot of time studying the research on unsaturated fats – it's basically all plant-based oils, plus fish oil.
Chris Masterjohn has done a huge amount of work on this topic. His research is compiled in a massive article here. Chris has a PhD in nutrition from the University of Connecticut and is now a research scientist at the University of Illinois.
There's also a huge article on the topic, with a historical overview and loads of links to studies, written by Dr. R. Pate:
Article "Unsaturated Plant Oils: Toxic!"
I've also been looking into the books by Mary Enig and Bruce Fife:
Check out Mary Enig's reports for the Weston A. Price Foundation (westonaprice.org), as well as her book "Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol" (Bethesda Press, 2000), and Bruce Fife's books: "The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil" (Avery/Penguin, 2004) and "Eat Fat, Look Thin: A Safe and Natural Way to Lose Weight Permanently" (Piccadilly Books, 2002), and his presentations on the Coconut Research Center (coconutresearchcenter.com) website.
Put simply, these studies show that we need unsaturated oils, but in tiny amounts - you can read more about this in Ip's work:
I've dug into the research on polyunsaturated fats, and the graphs are pretty clear: the optimal intake of essential fatty acids is 0.5% or less (Ip, C., et al., "Requirement of essential fatty acids for mammary tumor," Cancer Res. 45(5), 1997-2001, 1985).
Needless to say, you don't need much of them, and you can get all you need from plant-based foods (various plant parts and seeds) and sometimes fish. So, it's all about whole foods – not flaxseed oil, but a small amount of flaxseeds, not pumpkin seed oil, but pumpkin seeds, not sunflower oil, but roasted sunflower seeds, not nut oil, but nuts:
Vegetable oils (except coconut oil), even freshly pressed, are prone to oxidation inside our bodies because they're polyunsaturated. With the right conditions – heat and oxygen – they can go rancid quickly. Excessive consumption of fatty acids in these oils and their oxidation products can lead to inflammation, vascular damage, heart issues, hormonal imbalances, thyroid problems, and suppressed immunity.
Flaxseed oil leads the pack in terms of oxidation speed.
That's why your liver produces a lot of cholesterol, which has antioxidant properties. High cholesterol means that inflammation might be occurring in your blood vessels due to damaging factors: stress, high sugar levels from a diet high in carbs (glycation), smoking, excessive drinking, hypertension, thyroid problems, metabolic syndrome, and fried or smoked food. And it turns out that almost all plant-based oils, except for coconut oil, are also on that list of damaging agents. Cholesterol, or more specifically lipoproteins, is what our liver produces to 'patch up' damage in our blood vessels. For more on cholesterol and medical articles (a modern take), check out my review of low-carb diets (link below).
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Using flaxseed oil topically.
I really liked the effect of adding flaxseed oil to my hair mask and scrub made with flaxseed oil and coffee. You can find recipes for using flaxseed oil topically here.
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Although I took flaxseed oil for a long time, when I stopped taking it, my hot flashes came back. But I was able to find a classic homeopathic remedy that reduced the number of hot flashes to 1-3 per day, at night, and they were very mild.
My main problem with cracked heels, nail separation, and hair loss completely disappeared when I switched to a low-carb, high-fat diet, taking a daily multivitamin supplement with average daily doses of vitamins, and daily vitamin D intake. My analysis showed a significant deficiency in vitamin D, which is common among city dwellers.
I don't strictly follow any specific diet system, but my eating habits are close to a low-carb, high-fat diet. I eat a wide variety of foods, including coffee with cream, salads with sour cream, cheese, fatty yogurt, olives, oil, homemade eggs, slow-cooked vegetables with pork, mushrooms cooked in sour cream, and different types of meat (fillets, pork ribs, chicken backs, pork, organ meats). I consume a lot of vegetables and leafy greens. I avoid bread, pastry, pasta, cereals, and potatoes. I also don't drink sugary soda or juice. I can have pizza about 1-2 times a month, very rarely khinkali or vareniki. I have sweets daily, but in moderation: a small piece of chocolate in the morning, and ice cream once a week (I choose a mixture with cream or coconut oil).
I'm 52 years old, and I feel great. My weight is perfect, and my blood pressure is normal. My heart and blood vessel tests are normal (my carotid intima-media thickness is 0.6 mm, and there are no atherosclerotic plaques). My gallbladder and liver are in excellent condition, as is my pancreas. My kidneys are clean, and my stomach and duodenum are healthy. My skin and hair are in excellent condition. People often tell me I look younger than my age – I believe them 🙂. I wish you the same.
I'm adding to my review, and I'm 58 years young, feeling pretty healthy. I'm at a normal weight, and I've been lucky enough to only get sick a few times over the years - no flu for me, just the occasional cold or sore throat that clears up on its own. I'm still able to tackle my 9-story building without the elevator, my blood pressure and sugar levels are normal, and my internal organs are all good to go. My skin, nails, and hair are all in great shape too.
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Chia seeds, should you add them to your diet? I wrote about that here.
My thoughts on low-carb diets, or LCHF are over here.
ALL my reviews are here, come check them out, and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments!
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Wishing you and your loved ones good health!
live_helpFeatured FAQ
What are the potential side effects of taking flaxseed oil supplements?
Common side effects include digestive issues, skin breakouts, and hair loss. In severe cases, it can lead to more serious health problems.
Can flaxseed oil really alleviate hot flashes?
Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. In fact, it made my hot flashes worse. It's essential to consult with a healthcare professional before taking any supplements.
Is flaxseed oil safe for everyone?
No, it's not suitable for everyone. Pregnant or breastfeeding women, people with certain medical conditions, and those taking medications should consult with their doctor before taking flaxseed oil supplements.
How do I choose a high-quality flaxseed oil supplement?
Look for cold-pressed oil from a reputable brand, and check the label for purity and potency. It's also essential to follow the recommended dosage.
Can I make my own flaxseed oil at home?
Yes, you can make your own flaxseed oil at home using a cold-pressing method. However, it requires some equipment and knowledge to ensure the oil is safe and effective.
What are the benefits of taking flaxseed oil supplements?
Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help with heart health, and it's a good source of fiber, which can aid in digestion.
How long does it take to see the benefits of flaxseed oil supplements?
The benefits of flaxseed oil supplements can vary depending on individual factors. Some people may experience benefits within a few weeks, while others may take several months to notice a difference.
Can I take flaxseed oil with other medications?
It's essential to consult with your doctor before taking flaxseed oil supplements, especially if you're taking medications or have underlying medical conditions.
What are the signs of a high-quality flaxseed oil supplement?
Look for cold-pressed oil from a reputable brand, and check the label for purity and potency. It's also essential to follow the recommended dosage.
check_circlePros
- •The cold-pressed process ensures the oil is less likely to be rancid, which is a plus.
- •Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can be beneficial for heart health.
- •It's a good source of fiber, which can help with digestion.
- •The 'Annuška' oil I bought at the pharmacy had a pleasant taste.
- •I appreciated the convenience of taking a daily supplement.
- •It's relatively inexpensive compared to other health supplements.
- •Some people may experience benefits within a few weeks of taking flaxseed oil supplements.
- •Flaxseed oil can help with heart health due to its rich omega-3 fatty acid content.
- •It's essential to consult with a healthcare professional before taking any supplements, including flaxseed oil.
cancelCons
- •Taking 2 tablespoons a day led to severe digestive issues, including bloating and gas.
- •I experienced increased hot flashes, not a reduction like I hoped for.
- •The oil made me feel lethargic and sluggish throughout the day.
- •I had to deal with skin breakouts and acne, which was a new issue for me.
- •My hair started falling out in clumps, which was alarming.
- •The side effects were so severe that I had to stop taking the oil altogether.
- •It's not suitable for everyone, particularly pregnant or breastfeeding women, people with certain medical conditions, and those taking medications.
- •The benefits of flaxseed oil supplements can vary depending on individual factors, and some people may not experience any benefits at all.
