Flax seed oil.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: flax seed oil vs. flax seed oil
From: ravel.cycor.ca (Syd Baumel)
Date: 30 Jan 97 11:14:53 -600

> A recent book by Udo Erasmus suggests that the ideal source of dietary fats is fresh, raw, cold-pressed flaxseed oil. Whether or not this is good advice may be indicated by the following quotes from a USDA publication.
> Note that it describes a reaction which involves the immune system. I don't know about you, but I prefer not to subject my immune system to unnecessary stress.

Please note that Erasmus, like all experts who are up on the subtleties of good fats and bad fats, emphasizes the necessity of consuming _fresh, refrigerated_ oil. Highly polyunsaturated oils like linseed oil rapidly begin to go rancid from the moment they're extracted. If you don't refrigerate linseed oil, it will very soon begin to smell "fishy" (because fish, which also are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, quickly begin to smell for much the same reason) or like oil paint (which uses linseed oil as a medium). Rancid oils are extremely toxic, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the explanation for the adverse effects in livestock fed animal-feed-grade foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids. If you check the medical literature, you'll see that when it comes to fresh, well-preserved linseed oil, there actually is a growing body of evidence that its uniquely high content of the highly perishable father of the omega-3 family, alpha-linolenic acid, makes it an extremely healthful antidote to the omega-3 deficient diet that modern Westerners have been following -- at peril to most organs and systems of our bodies -- for several generations now.