Flaxseed Oil Good or Bad?

[Artas]

Many members on here compain that it causes hair to fall out, however its been shown that Flaxseed Oil is good for your insulin levels. So would you see this as a good supplement or not?

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

The particular type of fats found in flaxseed oil may not be all that good for you in supplement form. The best part of flaxseeds are the lignans which you won't get from the oil. Best really just to skip the oil, buy plain flaxseeds and grind up a small portion fresh each day.

 

[the Last Fight]

Ive read a few times that flax seed oil is no good, but flax seed itself is.

 

[dpdr]

Flaxseed Oil is good, Flaxseed Oil is bad, .... :whistle:

 

[Hairforever]

I've started taking DIM capsules with flaxseed oil capsules as recommended on the supplier's site as they say it helps with absorption. Surely flaxseed is just another source of omega 3 like fish oils. How can that be harmful to hair?

 

[Hairforever]

Brains, can you recommend a good source of lignans (preferably a supplement)?

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Nope, for maximum benefit you're supposed to grind the seeds up right before you eat them, so basically the best supplement form is the whole flaxseeds themselves.

 

[JLL]

You don't have to grind/crush them yourself... flaxmeal will do the job.

The Bioavailability of Flax Lignans from Flax Seeds and Supplements

The SDG concentrations in flax seed varies from about 1% to 3%. Since one tablespoon of ground flax seed weighs 7 grams, it contains between 70 mg and 210 mg of SDG. So one tablespoon would have at least as much SDG than the supplements.

Crushing flax seeds is better than consuming whole flax seeds, but ground flax seeds (i.e. flax meal) are superior in terms of lignan absorption.

See also this post: Do Flax Lignans Reduce Hair Loss from male pattern baldness?