Re: Re: flax seeds...yes or no

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/19/03 6:59:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

paultheo2000@... writes:

> Well, I think I just take a moderate approach. Just because I don't

> buy into the anti-fat/anti-cholesterol myths doesn't mean I believe in

> butter or sat. fat as a holy grail.

What does that have to do with what I said? I didn't even mention butter.

Fact is, phytates prevent cancer

> by leeching out ~harmful~ minerals such as iron from the body.

" Fact " is??? , there's an enormous burden of " proof " to claim something

is a " fact " which has hardly been met for these assertions. I think this is

untrue, but I'm not going to claim it is a " fact " that it's untrue. Rather, I

will state that I've never seen any convincing evidence at all for the

benefits of phytates.

Iron,

> especially in excess in males, is often toxic so a bit of bran/whole

> wheat is probably healthy for you unless you overdo it.

Well, now you have lined yourself up to the plate to bat against all the

epidemiological evidence showing that enormous iron intakes do not lead to heart

disease or cancer. You also now have to explain why the active transport

system that regulates iron absorption isn't sufficient to take care of this.

You

also have to explain why decreasing Ca, Zn, and other minerals in proportion to

the iron would have any beneficial effect, or wouldn't have a negative

effect, since phytates do not selectively bind iron.

> Omega-3 has continually shown positive results in studies, and fiber

> as well (although I don't feel as strongly towards it). I wouldn't

> start throwing out all scientific advice because it doesn't correlate

> with the habits of primitive societies.

, I didn't say anything whatsoever about primitive socieities. What I

said was that the scientific evidence you are referring to have consistently

showed positive results for DHA and EPA, not ALA. Actually, what studies have

shown consistently is that ALA conversion to DHA and EPA is consistently lower

than 20%, usually lower than 10%, and often as low as 1%-4%. What studies have

also shown is that increased omega-3s lead to increased lipid peroxidation,

which could lead to cancer and other problems. So it seems wise to me to try

to get the highest EPA/DHA with the lowest total omega-3s. I mentioned raw

butter simply to point out that it contains ALA, so if one did not consume

ALA-rich oils, they could get sufficient ALA from other food sources. You

wouldn't

have to eat butter, that's just one example.

Chris