Where to Buy Flaxseed Oil Online
With its extremely high omega-3 fatty acid content, flax oil is a popular health supplement. It is also one of the more fragile nutritional oils so it pays to choose your brand carefully.
Here are 3 important things to look for before you buy it and my recommendations for the best cold pressed, organic flaxseed oil, high lignan, the freshest flax meal and the best value capsules for daily use.
3 Things to Look for When Buying Flaxseed Oil
1. Flaxseed Oil Must be Cold-Pressed
To start with, a high quality flaxseed oil, like this one I use, should always be cold pressed. Too much heat can damage the structure of the fatty acids so the oil has to be produced carefully to avoid high temperatures.
Cold pressing is the name given to the process of mechanically separating the oil from the seed using pressure only, without the heat or chemical solvents used to extract many other common vegetable oils.
2. Organic Flax Oil is Best for Health
Ideally, a good flaxseed oil should also be made from organic seeds to minimize any exposure to pesticides. Many of the most harmful pesticides are fat-soluble, making organic even more important with a fatty acid product like flax oil.
Organic produce is usually grown in in better quality soils as well, which can often result in more nutrients in the end product.
3. Protect Flaxseed Oil from Light and Heat
Finally, a good oil should always come in a dark bottle to protect it from light and be as fresh as possible.
This is another reason, along with price, why online retailers like Amazon with their much higher turnover than retail health food stores, are a better place to buy flax oil from.
Cold Pressed Flaxseed Oil with High Omega-3
This highly rated flaxseed oil is cold pressed, organic, unfiltered and unrefined. It is incredibly fresh as is made to order and produced daily with the seeds protected from both light and heat during every step of extraction.
Barlean’s flax oil is well known for its freshness and clean taste and this is best selling vegan omega-3 supplement in America for good reason.
High Lignan Flax Oil
Another popular type of flax oil is the new high lignan versions, like this organic and cold pressed SDG lignan flaxseed oil.
Lignans are special phytonutrients found in the highest concentrations in ground flax seeds. Studies show they have anti-estrogenic effects, antioxidant properties and other health benefits.
You can get even more beneficial lignans into your diet by eating ground flax meal regularly, but adding them to omega-3 rich flaxseed oil gives you the best of both worlds.
The Best Brand of Flaxseed Oil Capsules
While flaxseed oil should have a pleasant taste (bitter tasting oil is likely to be rancid and should not be used), many people prefer the ease of using capsules rather than liquid.
Once again, the best brand is Barlean’s and I recommend these organic flaxseed oil capsules with 1650 mg of alpha linoleic acid per serve.
Take 1 or 2 of these low cost omega-3 supplements with each main meal for better skin, more effective weight loss and many other significant benefits.
Alternatively, you can use these popular high lignan capsules for the added hormone balancing benefits of the potent phytonutrients suspended within the oil.
Where to Buy Organic Flaxseed Meal
Although the oil is higher in omega-3, many people prefer ground flax meal for the balance of exceptional lignan content, dietary fiber, many vitamins and minerals and still being a good serving of omega-3 fatty acids.
Flaxseed meal is quite inexpensive too so, for maximum health benefits, it would be worth using both flaxseed oil and the ground flax seeds if you can afford it.
Spectrum Essentials make this excellent cold milled and organic ground flax that is very good value and goes really well on breakfast cereals and in smoothies or over fruit and yogurt.
Flaxseed Oil and Flax Meal Storage
It is vital to store flaxseed oil or ground flax in the fridge once you open them to preserve their freshness and potency. Some people even store flax meal in the freezer to minimize any chance of oxidation.
It’s generally advised to use the oil within a month of opening it and the ground seeds ideally within two weeks. Flaxseed oil capsules will last for longer, but for best results you would be using them regularly anyway.
I hope this guide on what to look for when buying flax oil and where to find the best organic flaxseed oil brands has been helpful. With a majority of people deficient in healthy omega-3 intake, flaxseed is a simple supplement to take to help bring you back into balance
Next is a look at a good flaxseed oil dosage to take and whether there are any side effects of using it regularly.