This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Diagnosed last year, like all of you I started researching EVERYTHING I could find...Swank, Jelinek, interferons etc etc. About two weeks ago I decided to look in one of my traditional Chinese medicine text books. There was a suggestion of flax / linseeds, and I thought "hey well it can't hurt"
Two weeks later I'm feeling like the converted! I soak 4 tsps overnight in water and tip off the excess water in the morning and chew them up when I wake up. I use whole linseeds to ensure they have not oxidised, additionally the whole seeds contain substances that the oil does not.
Even after such a short time the changes have been great. My bowels are normal for the first time in 4 years. My skin looks fabulous! I wake up before my alarm every morning and feel rested and clear headed. My recent symptoms have diminished...
Go research it for yourself, it protects against diabetes, vascular hardening, heart disease and many others. I just wanted to share this because it does not make drug companies any money and it is only in forums like this that information gets out.
I have also supplimented with cod liver oil as the synergy of thye two are beneficial, and I am a dairy free, gluten free swanker.

This is very fascinating. Flax seed is often ground. I never thought of the potential implication between a ground meal as opposed to a whole seed. Can you post an excerpt from the text you are citing?

I take 1 TB of ground flax seed meal per day. I buy whole organic seeds and then grind them myself in a coffee grinder used just for this purpose. Whole flax seeds can be stored at room temp but are best stored refrigerated. Once ground, the flax must be stored refrigerated in an air tight container. I find that my stomach does best with it if I mix it up in a little yogurt to soften it somewhat. I have never noticed any great effects from the flax seed, but I do notice that my digestive system works differently if I go a few days without it. In addition to the flax, I also take 7.2g/day of fish oil which provides 2.16g/day of DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids.

By the way, here's some nutrition information on flax seeds.
http://www.goldenflax.com/flax-seed-nut ... ation.html

NHE

The book I referred to was Paul Pitchford’s – Healing with Whole Foods Revised Edition, his MS dietary recommendations were similar to current low saturated fat diets, however he makes mention of essential fatty acid deficiency amongst MS sufferers p398 and wheat germ and flax seeds gamma linolenic acid being beneficial due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
All seeds contain enzyme inhibitors. Which is why it is good to soak them, this breaks down the inhibitors and releases the enzymes.
Always use freshly ground flax seeds. The moment flax seeds (and all other seeds and nuts) are ground up, the vitamins in them start to oxidize and the fats are getting rancid. Buying ground up flax seeds (or other seeds and nuts) is a waste of money and health, as it is a deteriorated product. You have to grind them up yourself, in a coffee grinder or seed grinder, and immediately put them into your food and eat them. Do not cook, heat ruins them too.
Flax oil contains the omega 3 fatty acid ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), while fish oil contains EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). The benefits of ALA continue to be studied.
The body can convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but it's been well known that this conversion process is not efficient. According to a recent study published in Nutrition Reviews, 8-20% of ALA is converted into EPA. From this, only 0.5-9% is converted to DHA.
Perhaps ALA is the missing link, until the industrial era began flax was a staple part of our diet, this time frame also coincides with increasing documentation of of MS like illnesses.
It also has reported benefit on all of the current theories of MS causation, whether it be blood sugar, vascular constriction, leaky gut or dietary induced inflamation. Plus no side effects! Please note consume in moderation you can OD on the stuff.

i have flax seed in my diet too. a whole tub of seeds on hand ready for use whole or ground. and like NHE i use fish oil from supplements (in addition to dietary sources) for EPA and DHA.

Biomed Pharmacother. 2002 Oct;56(8 ):365-79.

The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids.
Simopoulos AP.

Abstract
Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects. In the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, a ratio of 4/1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality. A ratio of 2.5/1 reduced rectal cell proliferation in patients with colorectal cancer, whereas a ratio of 4/1 with the same amount of omega-3 PUFA had no effect. The lower omega-6/omega-3 ratio in women with breast cancer was associated with decreased risk. A ratio of 2-3/1 suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a ratio of 5/1 had a beneficial effect on patients with asthma, whereas a ratio of 10/1 had adverse consequences. These studies indicate that the optimal ratio may vary with the disease under consideration. This is consistent with the fact that chronic diseases are multigenic and multifactorial. Therefore, it is quite possible that the therapeutic dose of omega-3 fatty acids will depend on the degree of severity of disease resulting from the genetic predisposition. A lower ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is more desirable in reducing the risk of many of the chronic diseases of high prevalence in Western societies, as well as in the developing countries, that are being exported to the rest of the world.

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

I am a little confused. Do you soak whole flax seeds and then chew on those, or do you grind them up and then soak and chew?

In your first post, you wrote: "I soak 4 tsps overnight in water and tip off the excess water in the morning and chew them up when I wake up. I use whole linseeds to ensure they have not oxidised, additionally the whole seeds contain substances that the oil does not."

So... do you use whole seeds? Or do you grind up the seeds? What does the book say exactly? Can you provide a quotation?

I use one of those mini electric coffee grinders.

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CCSVI Tracking post.....
http://www.thisisms.com/ftopicp-137901.html#137901

Sorry for the confusion, I use whole linseeds which I soak overnight, then chew them up in the morning. I try to chew them into a paste.

It's a time and a simplicity approach as I work it needs to be simple to do, additionally I'm a purist! My sister who is taking them for menopausal hot flushes grinds hers up (dry unsoaked) and puts them in her cereal.

I really don't think it matters which way, dry and ground or whole and soaked. The few western medical research programs used baked goods containing linseed and even with reduced vitality they still showed strong results.

There is about 15 references to linseed use in the book, one is for constipation which recommends ingesting them whole (soaked) with 2 glasses of water. Hence if I am in a rush I don't fret too much if I don't chew them all.

The most valuable side effect I think is feeling calmer, it's so easy to feel a little mad with this illness, it's also nice to feel more energetic.

Further interesting reading is Dr Johanna Budwigs Cottage Cheese and Linseed Diet cure for cancer. She recommends this combination as the most effective way to gain the benefits. I'm thinking about trying it, if I do I'll let you know.

I everyone is having a good day today.

is linseed the same as flaxseed?

also whats the difference between linseeds and linseed oil?
do they have the same properties?

Linseed and flaxseed are essentially the same thing. However, linseed oil typically refers to a processed flaxseed oil that's used for wood finishing which should not be consumed. Flaxseed oil contains the omega-3 fatty acid alpha linolenic acid (ALA), but only a small percentage (~10%) is converted to DHA and EPA, the good omega-3s in fish oil. Always buy food grade flaxseed oil and never anything labeled as linseed oil and only purchase it from stores which keep it refrigerated.

NHE

thanks nhe

in that case i will eat LINSEEDS , 4 teaspoons each morning soaked overnight and chew/eat them.

is that a good daily dose?

4 teaspoons will make a difference, one source recommends 4 tablespoons...Thats a lot of chewing!

A plus to the chewing is that it helps to retrain your brain to chew. Chewing is like a muscle memory, not a conscious activity, so a repeated morning session chewing slippery little seeds is a great start to chewing better.

We can eat the best diet in the world in the best combination, but if we don't chew it we miss out on it's full potential and tax our digestion when our bodies have much better things to do...like heal myelin.

That might be one of the reasons I've been feeling so great and energetic. I was dx two months ago and began taking vitamin d, b12, fish oil, flax oil, calcium, multivitamin from a-z, and a few others. Lately I have been feeling superb with a lot of energy. Im going to keep doing what I'm doing because it has been a while since I felt this great.

I have questions!

Where do you get flax/linseed? If there is a brand, which one? All you do is soak them and chew them in the morning?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but there's so many different kinds of flax seed, it's easy to get confused.