Flax seed oil, anti-aging and cellulite

“TL;DR: Flaxseed oil is the best source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the best way to improve the omega-6 vs omega-3 ration, which in the Western world is unnaturally high.”

FIRST PARAGRAPH

• Not just trans fats are abd for you - too much omega-6 oils are not good either

• The balance between omega-3 and omega-6 is important for both health and anti-aging

• Extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil vs extra virgin, cold-pressed flax oil

• That’s all good but with what oil do I fry? It’s simple: you don’t. Frying is a horrible cooking method, even air-frying.

• Is there a danger of overdoing it with more omega-3s by having flax oil?

• Will flaxseed oil get rid of my cellulite?

• Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the experts

• Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia

• The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening

Not just trans fats are abd for you - too much omega-6 oils are not good either

In today’s Western world people consume not only too much saturated, hydrogenated or fried fats/oils, which are widely accepted as unhealthy.

Such oils*, especially hydrogenated and fried fats/oils, are known to cause anything from heart disease to cancer to arthritis and of course overall aging, including skin aging and cellulite.

Something which is generally unknown to most people is that we also consume too much omega-6 polyunsaturated oils, which are found literally everywhere: from processed foods, condiments, pastry and desserts to meat and chicken.

Horrid soy, cottonseed, corn and similar highly processed oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids, are literally everywhere. Even if you consume cold pressed sunflower or similar quality omega-6 oils (rare to find and not many people do), all this excess of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) disrupt the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 in the body and bring it to as high as 20:1 - as opposed to a healthy ratio of 4:1 omega-6 vs omega-3 fatty acids.

(* People on the ketogenic diet seem to do well on saturated fats. However, for all other mixed carb-fat diets, saturated fats are not healthy in high amounts. And of course, fried / trans oils, of any kind, are detrimental to health.)

The balance between omega-3 and omega-6 is important for both health and anti-aging

This imbalance of omega-6 vs omega-3 is known to be pro-inflammatory and contributes to aging.

The solution to balancing the ratio of omega-6 vs omega-3 in the body lies in replacing omega-6s:

• With omega-9 monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA, the best options of which are extra virgin olive oil, olives and avocados) for the bulk of your unsaturated fatty acid needs (rapeseed oil is not a good idea, as among all the omega-9 fatty acids it also contains erucic acid, which is a very unhealthy fatty acid)

• With omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, in order to bring the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 close to 4:1 - even 6:1 will suffice, as long as you move away from 20:1 or 10:1. The best foods for this purpose are flaxseeds (linseeds), chia seeds, flaxseed oil and, to a lesser extent, walnuts. Of all these, flax oil is the abundant source of omega-3 PUFA, specifically alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

• With some highly unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (HUFA) from oily fish (basically salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies and halibut - never canned, of course) and fish oil capsules or liquid. However, an excess of omega-3 HUFA is not good for the body either and should not be exclusively used to balance the omega-6s. So we still need the ALA from flax, chia and walnuts (BTW tuna does not contain any appreciable amount of omega-3s, contrary to marketing BS).

Extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil vs extra virgin, cold-pressed flax oil

If I was to compare extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and flax oil I would say that flax oil wins hands down in terms of healthiness:

• Extra virgin olive oil contains an average of 65% MUFA (oleic acid), 25% saturated fats (palmitic and stearic), 10% omega-6 PUFA (linoleic acid, LA) and no omega-3 PUFA (alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). As oleic acid is a neutral oil, olive oil is great for general use, in both cooking and salads - and tastes amazing!

• Extra virgin flax oil contains an average of 20% MUFA, 10% saturated fats, 15% omega-6 PUFA and 55% omega-3 PUFA. Flax oil can only be used in salads or on bread, as cooking would oxidise and destroy it.

I have always used olive oil for cooking and salads and avoided flax oil for salads or on bread because it was impossible to find a non-bitter flax oil (bitter flaxseed oil is oxidised and thereby damaged), even by “quality” health supplement brands. Whatever I tried was old and bitter - and thereby unhealthy.

Luckily I have recently stumbled upon Flaxfarm, which produce fresh, unoxidised flaxseed oil in small batches every week. That oil is mild, herbal and slightly sweet, as flax seed oil should be. Since then I have now replaced EVOO for flax oil in all my salads or on bread and, of course, I never cook with it. Yes, EVOO tastes better than flax oil but the health benefits of flax oil are immense - plus tastebuds adjust to new tastes.

The same company also sells high-lignan flax oil, which has more health benefits, although some may not like the darker colour and nuttier taste (it tastes like ground flaxseeds).

(Please note that I and LipoTherapeia have no affiliation with this company - I am just a very satisfied customer and impressed by the quality and freshness of their products and would like to spread the word.)

Walnuts in salads and flax seeds in protein shakes also contribute towards my omega-3 PUFA intake (LNA, alpha linolenic acid), and salmon and the occasional sardines do so for my omega-3 HUFA intake (DHA, docosahexaenoic acid and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

The aim of all these measures is to reduce the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, keep omega-9 at a good level and minimise saturated fats, i.e. maintain an as natural as possible fat intake, which in turn can help prevent inflammation, whole body ageing, skin ageing and cellulite (the human being only started consuming so much saturated fat in the last few decades due to industrialised farming).

That’s all good but with what oil do I fry? It’s simple: you don’t. Frying is a horrible cooking method, even air-frying.

Many people ask: If you mainly use unsaturated fatty acids (omega-3, -6 and -9) how do you fry or cook at high temperatures? The answer is I rarely do and you should not do either. Fried food is literally as bad as food rich in hydrogenated / trans fatty acids, so just don’t do that, if you want to avoid inflammation, ageing and indeed cellulite.

The four times a year that I fry, I only use butter ghee (which unlike normal butter does not brown / burn, a sign of denaturation and oxidation) or extra virgin olive oil, used once (which is very expensive). I never fry at extreme temperatures (not higher than 180ºC and of course I would never use coconut oil for frying as, contrary to popular belief, it smokes and oxidises in zero time.

Is there a danger of overdoing it with more omega-3s by having flax oil?

As omega-6s are found in so many foods, just by eating normally and adding some flax oil on salads and bread will not upset the omega-6 to omega-3 balance.

The majority of fatty acids we consume in food are:

• Omega-6s (we consume way too much of them)

• Omega-9s (they are neutral, so you can have as much as you want of them, as long as you don’t put on any weight)

• Saturated (not very good for all non-keto diets)

Omega-3s are a small minority in Western diets, and hence the need for consuming linseeds, linseed oil, chia seeds and walnuts to restore the balance.

Unless you go crazy on flaxseed oil, you’re fine. In any case, it’s not good going crazy on anything - balance is the key.

Will flaxseed oil get rid of my cellulite?

No, it won’t, but it is one of the many things we can do to help prevent and reduce cellulite skin aging and overall body aging.

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