The TRUTH about heat and it's effect on flax oil.

When I first started learning about Dr Budwigs work with flax oil and oil protein combinations I often heard that heat spoiled the oil very quickly thus it was very important to keep the oil refrigerated at all times. The following statement came directly from a website that is supposedly an "expert" on the subject and is often cited to me as a resource for facts about flax oil.

"Flax seed oil is easily oxidized. Both the oil and the ground flax seed may become rancid very quickly if not refrigerated, and only have a shelf life of a few weeks even in properly refrigerated conditions. Such spoiled oils may be carcinogenic, and assist the formation of free radicals. "

Now, that statement is true. If you make flax oil and put it in a jar you better use it up pretty fast and keep it away from excessive heat. However with todays technology we have the ability to take raw, unrefined, cold pressed flax oil and put it into a container in a light and oxygen free environment, thus effectively slowing the oxidation of the oil in it's tracks UNTIL that bottle is opened. Therefore heat applied externally to that bottle has very little, if any impact. In cooking we can use flax oil up to 300 defrees F. After that it transforms chemically, so oxidation has nothing to do with the breakdown at that point. So in conclusion, LIGHT and OXYGEN are the real culprits when it comes to the oil breaking down. External heat will also contribute to the degradation of the oil but only after that container of oil has been opened. Of course I can only speak for Barleans and BioNatures oils, the only ones made with Barleans patented process. Next up, Lignans or no Lignans?

Flax, The Beginning.

This month we celebrate the 21st anniversary of the birth of "Flax" seed oil. Prior to this time in 1988 all oil extracted from the flax plant, or linum usitatissimum, was referred to as linseed oil. All of Dr Budwigs work referred to "cold pressed linseed oil". The word flax had never been used in relation to the plant byproduct. The problem that occured when my company, BioNatures, began importing the oil into the US for the first time related to the name. You see linseed oil was the boiled, trans fatty, indigestable, inedible version of the oil which was, and is, used as a drying agent for paint! You can imagine what the FDA had to say when a product tried to cross the border with the name "C-Leinosan cold pressed Linseed Oil" and was labeled for human consumption. Their response was, no way! So with 10,000 bottles of oil being sent back to Flora Oils in Canada, we had to think of something fast. Our ewfforts to convince the government that this oil was different were in vain. We explained to them that the same oil was being sold in health food stores in Canada and that the Canadian Food and drug inspected the plant that makes it. To no avail. They simply said, unnapproved food. I contacted a specialist in FDA law and asked what we had to do to convince the government this was a safe food that had been consumed in this form all over the world for thousands of years. The answer was...staggering. the amount of studies and red tape that had to be submitted was mind boggling and would clearly take months if not years to prepare. My staff and I began to brainstorm. One night I woke up and sat straight up in bed. It was one of those "aha" moments that changed my life forever. The next day we commissioned Flora to print all new labels with the name C-Leinosan Cold Pressed Flaxseed Oil" and send the shipment back through. Sure enoiugh it came in without a hitch and from that moment on a new product was born into the world. In the next installment, how Barleans Oil was born.