Flax crackers Carob Vanilla
R75.00
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Totally raw - dehydrated below 40º C Dried
flax crackers - gluten free, sugar free, preservative free
INGREDIENTS:
Dehydrated Flax seeds
Mary-Ann's Veg stock
Delicious with hummus, avocado and fresh or
Mary-Ann's sun dried tomatoes, or Mary-Ann's peanut butter (plain, chili or
honey)
Wonderful with homemade soup, or piled with
fresh salad or as high protein flax nachos with a beans
Ideal for everyone and a life saver on a raw
food diet :)
Health Benefits
The seeds of most plants are rich in
nutrients and can provide us with health benefits. Yet flaxseeds are also
nutritionally unique and offer us health benefits not found across the board
within the seeds food group. The nutritional uniqueness of flaxseeds features
three nutrient aspects, and all three play a key role in the outstanding health
benefits of this food.
Unique Nutrient Features of
Flaxseeds
The first unique feature of flax is its high
omega-3 fatty acid content. Among all 127 World's Healthiest Foods, flaxseeds
comes out number one as a source of omega-3s! The primary omega-3 fatty acid found
in flaxseeds is alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA.
The second unique feature of flaxseed is its
lignans. Lignans are fiber-like compounds, but in addition to their fiber-like
benefits, they also provide antioxidant protection due to their structure as
polyphenols. The unique structure of lignans gives them a further
health-supportive role to play, however, in the form of phytoestrogens. Along
with isoflavones, lignans are one of the few naturally occurring compounds in
food that function as weak or moderate estrogens when consumed by humans. Among
all foods commonly eaten by humans, researchers rank flaxseeds as the number
one source of lignans. Sesame seeds come in second, but contain only
one-seventh of the total lignans as flaxseeds. To give a few further examples,
sunflower seeds contain about 1/350th as many lignans, and cashews nuts contain
about 1/475th as many lignans as flaxseeds.
A third unique feature of flaxseeds is their
mucilage (gum) content. "Mucilage" refers to water-soluble,
gel-forming fiber that can provide special support to the intestinal tract. For
example, gums can help prevent the too rapid emptying of the stomach contents
into the small intestine, thereby improving absorption of certain nutrients in
the small intestine. Arabinoxylans and galactoxylans are included within the
mucilage gums found in flaxseeds.
This combination of features—omega-3 fatty
acids, high-lignan content, and mucilage gums—is a key factor in the unique
health benefits of flaxseeds. The specific areas of health benefit described
below all draw in some way from this unique combination of nutrients not found
in other commonly eaten nuts or seeds.
Cardiovascular Benefits
The primary omega-3 fatty acid in
flaxseeds—alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA—can be helpful to the cardiovascular
system in and of itself. As the building block for other messaging molecules
that help prevent excessive inflammation, ALA can help protect the blood
vessels from inflammatory damage. Numerous studies have shown the ability of
dietary flaxseeds to increase our blood levels of ALA, even when those
flaxseeds have been ground and incorporated into baked goods like breads or
muffins. When flaxseeds are consumed, two other omega-3 fatty acids have also
been shown to increase in the bloodstream, namely, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA). Increases in EPA and DPA also help provide
inflammatory protection.
Protection of our blood vessels from
inflammatory damage is also provided by the lignans in flaxseeds. These lignans
can inhibit formation of platelet activating factor (PAF), which increases risk
of inflammation when produced in excessive amounts. The overall
anti-inflammatory benefits of ALA and lignans in flaxseeds has been further
corroborated by studies in which flaxseed-enriched baked goods (like muffins)
lead to decreases of 10-15% in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. CRP levels are
a commonly used indicator of inflammatory status in the cardiovascular system.
Risk of oxidative stress in the blood vessels
can also be lowered by flaxseed intake. In addition to being a very good source
of the mineral antioxidant manganese, polyphenols in flaxseed—including
flaxseed lignans—provide measurable antioxidant benefits. The antioxidant
benefits of one particular flaxseed lignan, secoisolariciresinol, have been
especially well-documented. Decreased lipid peroxidation and decreased presence
of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the bloodsteam have both been associated
with flaxseed intake in amounts of approximately 2 tablespoons per day.
Intake of flaxseeds has also been shown to
decrease the ratio of LDL-to-HDL cholesterol in several human studies and to
increase the level of apolipoprotein A1, which is the major protein found in
HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol). This HDL-related benefit
may be partly due to the simple fiber content of flaxseeds, since 2 tablespoons
of ground flaxseed provide about 4 grams of dietary fiber.
Although direct studies on flaxseed and blood
pressure are limited (and mostly confined to flaxseed oil versus ground
flaxseed), numerous studies have shown the ability of increased omega-3 fatty
acid intake to help regulate blood pressure and to help reduce blood pressure
in persons who have been diagnosed with hypertension. With its excellent
content of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), flaxseed can
definitely help us increase our overall omega-3 intake and, by doing so,
decrease our risk of high blood pressure.
There is one area of concern that we want to
note involving flaxseeds and the cardiovascular system. We've seen one very
small-scale study from Canada involving 30 children and teens (ages 8-18), all
previously diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) and given
added flaxseed in their diets over a period of 4 weeks. The flaxseed amount was
2 tablespoons, and the form was ground flaxseeds incorporated into breads and
muffins. In this study, blood levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol
did not significantly change, but blood fat levels (in the form of
triglycerides) increased and HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol)
decreased. Since we would consider these changes in blood lipids to be
unwanted, we believe this study raises some preliminary questions about the
role of daily flaxseeds in amounts of 2 tablespoons or above in the diet of
children and teenagers who are already known to have high cholesterol. Much
more research is needed in this area, but if you are the parent of a child or
teen who is already diagnosed with high cholesterol, we recommend that you
consult with your healthcare provider about the pros and cons of incorporating
flaxseeds into your child's meal plan on a daily basis in any substantial
amount.
Antioxidant and
Anti-Inflammatory Benefits
It is important to realize that the
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of flaxseed do not apply only to the
cardiovascular system. Oxidative stress (which is often related to deficient
intake of antioxidant nutrients) and excessive inflammation (which can also be
related to deficient intake of anti-inflammatory nutrients) are common risk
factors for a wide variety of health problems. These problems include
development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, asthma, obesity, and
metabolic syndrome. There is preliminary evidence that flaxseed intake can
decrease risk of all the problems above by increasing our anti-inflammatory and
antioxidant protection.
Cancer Prevention
The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits
of flaxseeds also make them a logical candidate for cancer prevention. That's
because chronic inflammation (even low level inflammation) and chronic
oxidative stress are risk factors for cancer development. In the case of
flaxseeds, evidence of risk reduction is strongest for breast cancer, prostate
cancer, and colon cancer. Breast cancer and prostate cancer are included in the
list of cancers know as "hormone-related" cancers. Their risk
reduction may be more closely related to flaxseed than risk reduction for other
cancers due to the high lignan content of flaxseed.
Three of the lignans found in
flaxseeds—secoisolariciresinol, matairecinol, and pinoresinol—can be converted
by intestinal bacteria into enterolactone (ENL) and enterodiol (END). ENL and
END have direct affects on our hormonal balance and in this way may play an
especially important role in hormone-related cancer. In addition to decreased
risk of breast and prostate cancer following flaxseed intake, there is also
some preliminary evidence that ENL and END may be able to alter the course of
hormone-dependent tumors once they are formed. The relationship between
flaxseed intake and cancer prevention is complicated, however, due to the
important role of gut bacteria in converting secoisolariciresinol and other
lignans in flax into enterolactone and enterodiol. This conversion process
involves many different enzyme-related steps provided by a complicated mix of
gut bacteria including Bacteriodes, Bifidobacterium, Butyribacterium,Eubacterium and
others.
The lignans provided by flaxseed have also
been shown to spark increased activity by certain Phase II detoxification
enzymes that are responsible for deactivating toxins in the body. This support
of the detox process may help prevent accumulation of toxins that might
otherwise act as carcinogens and increase cancer risk.
Digestive Health
Benefits of flaxseed for the digestive
tract—although mentioned earlier throughout this food profile—are worth
repeating here. The strong fiber content of flaxseeds—including their
mucilaginous fiber—help to delay gastric emptying and can improve intestinal
absorption of nutrients. Flaxseed fibers also help to steady the passage of
food through our intestines. Finally, the lignans in flaxseed have been shown
to reduce risk of colon cancer. This impressive group of digestive tract
benefits is likely to receive more attention in future research studies.
Flaxseeds and
Post-Menopausal Symptoms
We've seen mixed findings in the area of
post-menopausal benefits (such as reduction of hot flashes) and flaxseed
intake, with some studies showing significant benefits and other studies
showing a lack of significant benefits. However, there continues to be strong
interest in flaxseeds and their components (including enterolactone and
secoisolariciresinol diglucoside) as potential aids during management of
perimenopausal and postmenopausal symptoms as well as during hormone
replacement therapy (HRT).
This area of flaxseed research is admittedly
complex. For example, enterolactone made from flaxseed lignans has been shown
to be an estrogen agonist (promoting estrogen production, through increased
formation of transcription factors like ER-alpha and ER-beta), as well as an
estrogen antagonist (working against estrogen production, through inhibition of
enzymes like estrogen synthetase). It's also known to lower the activity of
5-alpha-reductase (an enzyme that converts testosterone into
dihydrotestosterone) and 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (an enzyme that
converts estrone into estradiol). Given this complicated set of circumstances
that may vary from one woman to another, it may turn out that flaxseed intake
is simply better at lessening menopausal symptoms in some women, and not as
good at lessening symptoms in others.
Other Health Benefits
Although we've already mentioned decreased
risk of insulin resistance in relationship to flaxseed intake, we're definitely
expected to see more research studies in this area. The strong fiber content,
antioxidant content, and anti-inflammatory content of flaxseeds make them a
natural here.
One final note about the health benefits of
flaxseeds involves their feeding to animals. We've seen repeated studies on the
content of beef, chicken, and eggs that reflect significantly increased omega-3
content in these foods when flaxseed meal and/or flaxseed oil are added to the
diets of cows and chickens. For persons who enjoy these foods in their meal
plan on a regular basis, this increased omega-3 content can really add up. Some
manufacturers of beef, chicken, and eggs provide omega-3 information on their
product packaging. Consumption of certified organic animal foods in which
flaxseed was added to the animals' feed can be an effective way of increasing
your omega-3 intake.
Description
The scientific name for flax—Linum
usitatissimum— reveals a lot about our human relationship to this plant.
The "linum" part of this name sounds a lot like "linen,"
which is a fabric that has been made from flax for over 3,000 years. The "usitatissimum"
part of its name means "of greatest use" in Latin, and that quality
also rings true in our relationship to flax. This plant has served not only as
a food source and source of linen, but also for the creation of sails on
sailing ships, bowstrings, and body armor. Flaxseed is known in many parts of
the world as "linseed," although most of the linseed oil sold in the
United States is not food grade and is sold instead for use as a wood finish
and preservative.
Brown flax and golden flax (sometimes called
yellow flax) are the two basic varieties of flax, and they are similar in their
nutritional composition, with one important exception. One specific strain of
yellow flax called "solin" was been developed by agricultural
scientists to be processed and sold as a cooking oil that could substitute for
oils like sunflower seed oil. Solin has been approved by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) as a GRAS list food, and it is sometimes being produced
under the trademarked name "Linola" (TM). Since solin (Linola TM)
only contains about 1/10th of the alpha-linolenic (ALA) content of other the
brown and golden flax varieties, it definitely should not be considered
equivalent from a nutritional standpoint.
One additional clarification about varieties
of flax is also important. New Zealand flax, even though it bears the same
name, is not related to the flax plant Linum usitatissimum whose
flaxseeds we recommend as a World's Healthiest Food. New Zealand flax also has
a rich history of use for its fiber content, however, as well as traditional
medicinal uses as developed by the Maori peoples of New Zealand.
In their raw form, flaxseeds usually range
from amber/yellow/gold in color to tan/brown/reddish brown. White or green
flaxseeds have typically been harvested before full maturity, and black
flaxseeds have typically been harvested long after full maturity. Generally
speaking, we recommend avoiding raw flaxseeds that are white, green, or black
in color.
History
Sometime between 4000 and 2000 BC, flax
cultivation became a common practice in countries bordering the Mediterranean
Sea and in regions of the Middle East, and there is some evidence that flax
cultivation may have started even thousands of years earlier, during the
Neolithic Era of approximately 10,000 BC. From the very beginning, the value of
flax was both culinary and domestic, since flax fibers could be spun into linen
to provide clothing and other textile-related products.
To this day, flax cultivation has remained
both culinary and domestic, although crop production has become more
specialized and wide scale. In the United States and Canada, most commercial
flax production involves oilseed varieties of flax, in which the seeds will
eventually be dried and crushed and used to produce different grades of oil.
Non-food grade flaxseed/linseed oil is used in wood finishes, paints, coatings,
and other industrial supplies. Food grade flaxseed/linseed oil can as be used
in livestock feed, or as a culinary oil. (It is much more common, however, for
livestock feed to contain flaxseed meal versus flaxseed oil.) Oilseed varieties
of flax are typically classified as oilseed crops along with soybeans,
rapeseed, cottonseed, sunflower seed, and peanuts. Canada is the world's
largest producer of oilseed flax, followed by Russia, France, and Argentina.
Fiber flax is the other major variety of flax
in terms of commercial production. In Europe, France and Belgium are especially
large producers of fiber flax. While cotton, wool and silk remain the most
popular natural fibers in the global textile market, the global flax market has
grown in recent years following increased production of linen products in
China.
Alongside of these other flax markets,
however, has developed a gradually expanding consumer market for flaxseeds
themselves, to be considered as uniquely nourishing food. We expect to see food
interest in flaxseeds increase, primarily because of their unique nutrient
combinations and health benefits.
How to Select and Store
Flaxseeds can be purchased either whole or
already ground. The two different forms offer distinct benefits. Because
flaxseeds can be very difficult to chew, grinding of the seeds prior to
consumption can usually increase their digestibility. However, grinding takes
time, and pre-ground flaxseeds can have great convenience. On the other side of
the coin, pre-ground flaxseeds—while more convenient—also come with a shorter
shelf life than whole flaxseeds. Ground flaxseeds—even when carefully packaged
in a gas-flushed, light-protective pouch and refrigerated after
opening—typically last about 6-16 weeks. Whole flaxseeds, on the other hand,
will typically last for 6-12 months when stored in an airtight container in a
dark, cool dry spot. If directly refrigerated, they may last for 1-2 years.
Whole flaxseeds are generally available in
prepackaged containers as well as bulk bins. Just as with any other food that
you may purchase in the bulk section, make sure that the bins containing the
flaxseeds are covered and that the store has a good product turnover so as to
ensure their maximal freshness. Whether purchasing flaxseeds in bulk or in a
packaged container, make sure that there is no evidence of moisture. If you
purchase whole flaxseeds, either store them in an airtight container in a dark,
dry and cool place or place their airtight container directly in the
refrigerator.
Ground flaxseeds are usually available both
refrigerated and non-refrigerated. If you are purchasing ground flaxseed that
is sitting on the store shelf at room temperature, we highly recommended that
the flaxseed be packaged in a gas-flushed, vacuum-sealed bag. If you are
purchasing ground flaxseed that is found in the refrigerator section, it's not
essential that vacuum-sealed packaging be used, but it can still be helpful
from a food quality standpoint. Regardless of the form in which you purchase
your ground flaxseeds, you should keep their container in the refrigerator
after opening. The reason for all of this extra precaution is simple: once
flaxseeds are ground, they are much more prone to oxidation and spoilage.
Similarly, if you are grinding whole flaxseeds on your own at home (for
example, in a small spice or coffee grinder), you'll want to store them in the
refrigerator in an airtight container. If using glass, you may also want to use
a darkened glass as that will lessen exposure of the ground flaxseeds to light.
Flaxseed oil is especially perishable and
should always be purchased in opaque bottles that have been kept refrigerated.
Flaxseed oil should have a sweet nutty flavor. We never recommend the use of
flaxseed oil in cooking, since it is far too easily oxidized. However, it's
fine to add flaxseed oil to foods after they have been cooked.