Flaxseed: the new heart medicine

Posted on Sun, 5 Apr 15

A new study has found a daily dose of flaxseed could lower cardiovascular risk in people with heart disease, beyond the effects of medication.

A daily dose of flaxseeds (linseeds) could be just what your cardiologist ordered. Flaxseed has been shown to lower cholesterol in several studies, so convincingly that there is a recently approved health claim for cholesterol lowering in Canada.

In a new study, flaxseed (30 g daily) was found to significantly lower cholesterol in people at particularly high risk of heart disease (1).  Within just a month significant benefits on total and LDL cholesterol were noticed, and these benefits persisted for several months more.

This was also the first study to assess the effects of flaxseed on blood clotting, with the results suggesting it may help reduce blood viscosity in people with hypercoagulation, a bit like aspirin but without the side-effects.

And in those people already taking cholesterol-lowering medications the addition of flaxseed was safe and had further benefits by decreasing LDL cholesterol beyond the effects of medication alone.

So flaxseed appears to be super nutrition for your heart, reducing blood clotting, improving your cholesterol and, as several studies have shown, improving your blood pressure as well (2).

Importantly, it's the whole ground or milled seed that appears to be most effective, with flaxseed oil or extracts showing little to no evidence of these benefits; likely because it's a whole food and jam-packed full of nutrients.

Try 30 to 40 g (about 2 heaped tablespoons) of milled flaxseed once daily, and make sure you follow it with a glass of water or two as it is full of fiber.

References:

1. Edel AL, et al. Dietary Flaxseed Independently Lowers Circulating Cholesterol and Lowers It beyond the Effects of Cholesterol-Lowering  Medications Alone in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease. J Nutr. 2015 Feb 18. pii: jn.114.204594. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Khalesi S, Irwin C, Schubert M. Flaxseed Consumption May Reduce Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials. J Nutr. 2015 Mar 4. pii: jn.114.205302. [Epub ahead of print]