Being touted as a Wonder food, processed foods with flax ingredients are inundating the Supermarket and health food shelves. BUYER BE WARY, not all forms of flax ingredients are beneficial. The majority of the flax in these products is poor quality, rancid flax.
It can be hard to figure out all the differences in flax seed because there are many varied colors and qualities.
(Insert photos with corresponding text of flax from link I provided today, ellies-whole grains.com)
The different species of flax seed are:
- Dark Brown
- Light Brown
- Red
- Yellow
- Golden
The Dark, light brown, and red flax seed can be used for the processing of dye, hair gels, soap, fishing nets, medicines, linseed painting oil and fabric, as well as for animals.
How do you know the difference between golden vs. brown flaxseed, and how do you test the quality of omega 3 in golden vs. brown flaxseed? What should you look for when you purchase flaxseed?
Before you buy the seed look at the flax seed. The seed should look oily and shiny. This demonstrates that the seed has high quality Omega 3 content. The flax seed we use has 2.64 grams of Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids per 2 Tablespoons of Flax seed, 45% oil content and 60% of that is Alpha Linoleic Acid, the Essential Fatty Acid source of Omega 3 fats.
The seed should be plump. A flat seed will usually indicate very little Omega 3 oil, fiber, and lignin (a member of a group of substances found in plants that have shown estrogenic and anticancer effects.) content.
As with any food, there are different qualities found in foods of the same category. Our flax seeds are large and plump with a high content of lignins.
The flaxseed should taste good. This is the most important aspect, as flax seed is a food. It should have a light nutty flavor, with little or no smell. If it is old, poor quality, or has been stored a long time, it may taste bitter, moldy, or rancid.
If you taste a whole flax seed it should be crunchy when you first chew it and then become gummy due to the good fiber and Omega 3 oil content. A seed that is not gummy when chewed is not high quality flaxseed. Ostensibly, it is devoid of its Omega 3 oil content as well as other valuable nutrients.
Where does your flax seed come from? Is it spending a great deal of time being shipped from other countries and stored in warehouses?
We buy our flax seed directly from the premium grower in North Dakota. They know how to handle the crop to eliminate splits of cracked seeds that cause rancidity in the bulk sample but are impossible to remove during the cleaning process.
They carefully clean their premium gold flax seed 3 times. It has been cleaned to a standard of 99% food pure. Weed seeds, dust, insect parts and foreign material have been removed to the greatest extent. Each bulk lot is tested for possible food toxins. The machinery is thoroughly cleaned after each milling with compressed air. No chemical solvents or soaps are used on the blades as they might leave a contaminating residue. In order to avoid contamination, human hands have no contact with the flaxseed.
A great deal of flax is lost during the cleaning process, but this makes for exceptional quality of the seed. The flaxseed is milled, not ground or crushed, in order to leave as much of the oil as possible within the cell walls (not exposed to oxygen). Ordinary grinding of flaxseed is too oxidizing. The oils go rancid; as they do when flax oil is extracted.
Expelled flaxseed oil is a fractured, dead food, that lacks the fiber, protein, enzymes and other nutrients contained in milled flax seed, and has far fewer lignins than the milled seeds. Flax oil makes up a large segment of the flax product market. The oil is expelled from the seed, leaving behind most of the antioxidant lignins, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
Whole flax seeds available for home grinding, even when organically grown, are inevitably too high in toxic metals and other contaminants, and too low in oil, Omega 3 fatty acid and other nutrients. Whole, unmilled flaxseeds cannot be broken down well by chewing, nor by the digestive juices; therefore as much as 90% of the value is missed.
Whole unmilled flaxseed is not digestible by humans. It only acts as a laxative. In fact, it moves so efficiently, that after it passes through the digestive tract, if it is planted, it will grow. Flaxseeds need to be milled to allow the digestive tract to absorb the nutrients contained in the seed. However, bulk milled flaxseed or flax oil may rapidly go rancid as a result of exposure to light and air, resulting in a short shelf life.
The flaxseed we use is milled by a slicing method that seals the oil in the pieces and minimizes the exposure to air and light. Other producers mill their lesser quality flax into a large hopper, where it sits for a length of time; then they fill the containers from there.
Exposure to light and oxygen begins the spoilage process. Rancidity quickly spreads through an oil-rich medium like an infection. Free radicals create more free radicals (peroxides). So, flax oil, oil capsules or other brands of pre-ground flax are not the best choices for the consumer.
There is no other flax approaching anywhere near the quality of the flax our growers harvest.
Only the very best (about 1/3) of what is certainly the best-grown and cared-for flaxseed in the world, is selected for milling by our flax grower. Their flax seed is grown free of pesticides, is non GMO (non-genetically modified) and FDA regulated.
The special Golden Omega 3 Flax seed was developed by South and North Dakota State Universities to optimize the Lignin and Omega 3 oil content in the seed. This seed is much easier to grind than Brown Flax seed.
A premium crop of Golden Flax seed requires more care when growing than other flax seed. Golden flax seed propagation requires specific soil conditions as well as optimal weather… cool and not too dry. Our flax grower will not compromise on quality. It is not the lowest price flaxseed, but it is definitely the best quality milled flaxseed available. As with all of the ingredients used to make Betheny’s Best products, quality is priceless.
OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS AND FLAX SEED
Omega 3 Fatty Acids are essential fatty acids that can only be obtained in sufficient quantities through dark-back, torpedo-shaped, cold water fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel or through flaxseed. Other sources, including pumpkin seeds, hemp seed and walnuts, contain very little Omega 3.
Omega 3 fatty acids are responsible for regulating or turning off the production of many bodily functions and needs; adrenalin and other vital hormones, cholesterol, blood pressure, arachnadonic acid, stress and blood glucose levels, to name a few. The brain works, in part, as a result of little elongated bits of Omega 3 fatty acid.
Flaxseed contains a higher concentration of Omega 3 fatty acids than any other food. Unlike fish, flaxseed has fiber, lignins, vitamins, minerals and all of the essential amino acids, with no mercury, DDT and PCP concerns. Lignins are a proven tumor reducer, and fiber helps to maintain regularity. Farm raised fish are loaded with PCP’s from their source of genetically modified feed.
Maybe you've seen the various kinds of flaxseed? It can be hard to figure out all the differences in flax seed because there are many varied colors and qualities!!
There is Dark Brown, Light Brown, Red, Yellow, and Golden Flax seed. The Dark and Light Brown and Red Flax seed can be used to make dye, hair gels, soap, fishing nets, medicines, linseed painting oil and fabric, as well as feed for animals.
Read the sourse page here: http://www.ellies-whole-grains.com/golden-vs-brown-flax-seed-how-to-test-for-quality-omega-3.html#axzz273taSg4s
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