Flaxseed info:
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| Wed, 09-24-2003 - 12:27am |
FLAXSEED
To help prevent heart disease and breast cancer, physician Andrew Weil, author of several books on natural medicine, recommends sprinkling ground flaxseed on cereal or stirring it into orange juice. Fellow physician Dean Ornish, the guru of low-fat diets and a man who never met an oil he liked, is singing its praises, too. Flaxseed oil, he says, is even better than olive oil when it comes to protecting the heart.
The facts behind the accolades: Flax is extraordinarily rich in plant estrogens called lignans. These plant hormones look enough like the human version that they may be able to latch onto breast cells, preventing your own estrogen from doing so. Unlike your estrogen, though, they don't stimulate cancerous cells to grow. Lignans also boost production of a substance that carries human estrogen out of the body. And they're antioxidants, so researchers think they could guard against the kind of genetic damage that can lead to cancer.
Lignans aren't the only hotshot substance hiding behind flax's modest facade. The seeds are packed with alpha-linolenic acid, the plant world's version of the omega-3 fatty acids that make fish oil a great heart protector. Flaxseed is also a good source of soluble fiber, so it lowers cholesterol. Women in a 1993 study found that about two tablespoons of ground flax daily cut their total cholesterol 9 percent; their LDL, the kind that gums up arteries, dropped 18 percent. Flaxseed oil is available but contains neither lignans nor fiber.
The bottom line:
Go for the seeds, which you'll find in bulk-item bins at health food stores. Two tablespoons a day is plenty. More than that provides so much fiber that you might wind up feeling bloated.

Deb
Rhonda
~~Rhonda~~
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