Flax Seeds - How does one tell whether they are high lignan or not?

[Nathan Daniel]

Flax Seeds - How does one tell whether they are high lignan or not?

[Nathan Daniel]

And what does high lignan content do to the body biochemistry? IE any idea why it should be avoided?

[DebB]

It's my understanding that it's the 'oil' that is high lignan. I don't know about it except for what my Holistic MD advised me and that was to always buy the 'high lignan' oil because he said it would protect against breast cancer. Barlean's may have more info on this on their site, that's the brand I used to buy. *Ü*

[Nathan Daniel]

I am slowly shifting to the Gerson diet and approach for psoriasis (slowly because buying that much organic vegetables and fruits and juicing them everyday is taking a major shift in lifestyle!):


"Juicers and Juicing
by Dr. Maya Nicole Baylac


Juices on the Gerson Therapy are a critical aspect of the regimen providing most of the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals and other nutrients essential to healing along with adequate fluid intake. We are often asked why patients cannot simply eat the foods instead of making them into juices, as there is no fiber content to the juice, and invariably some nutrition is lost in the juicing process.

Part of the answer can be found in the fact that the typical Gerson Therapy patient will ingest thirteen 8 ounce glasses - about 104 ounces of juice daily! This tremendous influx of liquid provides the nutritional equivalent of almost seventeen pounds of food a day. It is then obvious that the consumption of that quantity of food on a daily basis would be impossible."

From what I have read so far the Gerson Diet (the best anti-cancer and chronic disease regimen out there as far as I can tell) they say the exact opposite of your MD - use low lignan flax seed oil (you should not eat any seeds or nuts on the gerson regimen -only flax seed oil - which I make fresh with a Samson oil extractor) only. When I walk into a store in Canada or UK - I find two kinds of flax seed - golden ones or brown ones - no mention is made on the packaging of the lignan content. Hence my question. I guess I might just ask which oil - ie the brown or golden varieties is lower in lignans...? And go with that.