Flaxseeds: ancient nutritional wisdom

Don't underestimate this little seed—flaxseeds pack a powerful nutrition punch! It's easy to add flaxseeds to your diet and reap all the health benefits. Here's how.

• Cultivated as early as 4000 BC, flaxseed and flaxseed oil's, many merits have propelled it into the nutritional spotlight.
• Flaxseeds are being studied for the prevention or management of numerous conditions.

Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA): Because our bodies cannot manufacture this essential fatty acid, we must consume it in foods. Important for regulating blood pressure and for cell membrane health, ALA may have a wide range of beneficial health effects, including the ability to prevent heart disease by reducing the production of hormone-like substances that lead to blood clotting. ALA makes flaxseed oil healthful, though it should be noted that fibre and lignans are lost when the flaxseeds are processed into oil.

Insoluble fibre: This type of fibre keeps your digestive system running smoothly and helps to prevent constipation.

Lignans: Also referred to as phytoestrogens, lignans have mild es­tro­genic properties. Lignans may also play a protective role against auto­­immune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheum­­atoid arthritis. They may also protect against fibrocystic breasts and some hormone-related Cancers (breast, endometrial and prostate).

Soluble fibre: The soluble fibre in flaxseeds forms a gel in the intestine, helping trap and usher out harmful LDL ("bad") cholesterol particles.

• To get the most out of flaxseeds, grind them in a coffee grinder. Unless the seeds are well chewed or ground, they simply pass through the body and you don't reap their health benefits.
• In addition, don't heat flaxseed oil—this will destroy its alpha-linolenic content and make the oil taste unpleasant.

• Adding flaxseeds to your diet may help to ward off heart disease.
• In a recent study, men and women with high cholesterol ate muffins with either flaxseeds or a wheat bran placebo for three weeks each.
• Participants who ate flaxseeds showed decreases in LDL cholesterol, compared to little change in the placebo group.

• Grind flaxseeds in a mini food processor or coffee grinder and use the flaxseed meal to replace a quarter of the flour in pancake or waffle batter.
• Add ground flaxseeds to cookie, bread and pie doughs.
• Make a pesto with fresh basil, garlic, ground flaxseeds (in place of nuts), flaxseed oil and grated Parmesan cheese. Toss with hot pasta.
• Add ground flaxseeds to your cold cereal or stir into hot oatmeal.
• Add ground flaxseeds to meatballs and meatloaves.
• Grind flaxseeds along with toasted nuts, mix with Neufchâtel (light) cream cheese and use as a spread.