Table 6.
Recent clinical reports showing lipid profile and other health effects of flaxseed consumption in diet
| Experiment | Model system | Significant findings | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumption of 5 g of flax fibres daily for 1 week in form of bread and drinks | Young healthy adults | Faecal excretion of fat increased by 50 %. Flax bread and Flax drink reduced the Total & the LDL-cholesterol by 7 & 9 and 12 & 15 %, respectively. | Kristensen et al. (2012) |
| Consumption of 5 g of flaxseed gums per day for 3 months | Type-2 diabetics | Total and LDL-cholesterol were reduced by 10 and 16 %, respectively. | Thakur et al. (2009) |
| 15 % flaxseed meal enriched biscuits were fed for 8 weeks | Hypercholesterolemic rats | Cholesterol & triglyceride level decreased from 456.66 & 173.84 to 183.92 & 102.67 mg/dl, respectively. LDL and VLDL decreased from 199.46 & 34.95 to 84.08 & 20.53 mg/dl, respectively. While, HDL increased from 38.95 to 64.37 mg/dl. | Hassan et al. (2012) |
| 100 % flaxseed oil was used as shortening in preparation of biscuits, which were fed for 8 weeks | Hypercholesterolemic rats | Cholesterol & triglyceride level decreased from 456.66 & 173.84 to 170.48 & 96.79 mg/dl, respectively. LDL and VLDL decreased from 199.46 & 34.95 to 74.79 & 19.34 mg/dl, respectively. While, HDL increased from 38.95 to 66.09 mg/dl. | Hassan et al. (2012) |
| Flaxseeds were consumed to see its effect on appetite -regulating hormones; lipemia and glycemia. | Young men | Decreased triglyceride levels (postprandial lipemia), Higher mean- ratings of satiety and fullness | Kristensen et al. (2011) |
| Flaxseed powder enriched diets were consumed for 12-weeks to check body weight and lipid profile | Rats | Rats fed with high fat & high fructose diet along with 0.02 % flax powder showed decreased levels of TG, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol from 100, 69 and 10 to 96, 63 and 9 mg/dl, respectively | Park and Velasquez (2012) |
| Feeding of basal diet & basal diet supplemented with 1 g flaxseed lignan per kg for 8 weeks | Mice | Reduction in breast tumor cell proliferation (or growth) without affecting the size of tumor | Truan et al. (2012) |
| 7.5 g per day of ground flaxseed was consumed for 6 weeks and 15 g per day for an additional 6 weeks | Postmenopausal women | Flaxseed supplementation did not impact circulating levels of IGF-1, IGF-BP3, or C-peptide, which increase cancer risk by stimulating cell proliferation and increasing survival of DNA-damaged cells | Sturgeon et al. (2011) |
| Animals were fed with 10 %, 20 % & 30 % of raw and heated flaxseed in the basal diet for 30 days | Rats | Total cholesterol level got significantly reduced in all flaxseed groups and HDL- cholesterol got significantly increased in 20 % raw; 30 % raw and heated flaxseed groups. Significant reduction in LDL-cholesterol level was only observed in 30 % raw flaxseed groups | Khalesi et al. (2011) |
| Diets containing 2·7 % flaxseed, 4·5 % fibre and 3·7 % ALA were fed for 10 weeks. | Mice | The median number of adenomas in the small intestine was 54 & 37 for control & flaxseed groups, respectively. Compared with controls (1·2 mm), the adenoma size was smaller in the flaxseed (0·9 mm) fed group | Oikarinen et al. (2005) |
| Animals were fed the basal diet (control) and ω-3 rich flax cotyledon’s fraction (82 g/kg), respectively for 8 weeks | Mice | Flax diet reduced the cell proliferation; suppressed insulin growth factor (IGF)-1R and the growth of breast tumour | Chen et al. (2011a, b) |
| Non-fiber beverage, Flax drink -flax fiber extract (2.5 g) and flax tablets | Human | Flax drink increased the sensation of satiety and fullness compared to Control and also a significant decrease in subsequent energy intake was observed after the Flax drink compared to Control (2,937 vs. 3,214 kJ) | Ibrugger et al. (2012) |
| Isoenergetic diets were consumed for 28 days each containing approximately 36 % energy from fat, of which 70 % was provided by flaxseed oil | Hypercholesterolemic subjects (Human) | Compared with control, total, LDL & HDL-cholesterol levels were reduced by 11, 15.1 & 8.5 %. LDL:HDL ratio by was reduced by 7·5 % | Gillingham et al. (2011) |
| Diet rich in flaxseed oil was given for 10 days and then a single dose of Cisplatin (6 mg/kg body weight) was administered intraperitoneally while still on diet | Rats | Dietary supplementation of flaxseed oil in Cisplatin (CP)-treated rats ameliorated the CP-induced hepatotoxic and other deleterious effects | Naqshbandi et al. (2012) |
| Flaxseed powder (60 g/day, 10 g ALA) was administered in a double-blind routine for 12 weeks | Obese population | Total cholesterol level decreased from 197.2 to 179.4 mg/dl. LDL & HDL decreased from 122.3 & 50.9 to 106.6 & 47.9 mg/dl, respectively. While, VLDL increased from 25.8 to 26.6 mg/dl | Faintuch et al. (2011) |
| Full fatty and partially defatted flaxseed flour @ concentration of 4-20 % supplemented diet was fed for 1 week in form of unleavened flat bread | Albino rat | 12 % full fat & 16 % defatted flaxseed flour increased TD from 79.4 to 81.45 & 84.6; NPU from 44.3 to 49.4 & 54.65; PER from 1.51 to 1.8 & 1.87; and BV from 55.79 to 60.65 & 64.6 | Hussain et al. (2012) |
| Low-fat muffins supplemented with 500 mg flax lignan were fed for 6 weeks | Postmenopausal women | A significant decrease (0.88 to 0.80 mg/L) in C-reactive protein (CRP) was observed in test women | Hallund et al. (2008) |
| 30 g/day of flaxseeds were consumed in diet for a period of 3 months | Hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women | Dietary flaxseed supplementation lowered the total and LDL-cholesterol level, approximately by 7 % and 10 %, respectively. However, the levels of HDL and triglyceride remained unaltered | Patade et al. (2008) |
| Diet was supplemented daily with 10 g of flaxseed powder for a period of 1 month | Type 2 diabetics | Blood glucose level reduced by 19.7 %. A favorable reduction in total cholesterol (14.3 %), triglycerides (17.5 %), LDL-cholesterol (21.8 %), and an increase in HDL-cholesterol (11.9 %) were also noticed | Mani et al. (2011) |
| Ground linseed was added in diet for 27 days (from day 29, till day 56) | Hypercholesterolemic rabbit | Total Cholesterol & LDL-cholesterol levels were reduced from 16.76 & 15.96 to 10.06 & 10.74 mg/L, respectively. There was no significant difference in serum HDL-cholesterol and TAG between the two groups | Prim et al. (2012) |
| 25 % flaxseed based diet was consumed by mothers during lactation. At weaning, pups received the same diet for 170 days | Rats | A reduction in total cholesterol levels from 63.43 to 45.71 mg/dL and triglycerides from 79.86 to 54.29 mg/dL was observed, without any alteration in HDL | Cardozo et al. (2010) |
| 40 g/day of ground flaxseed-containing baked products were fed for 10 weeks | Human | Flaxseed significantly reduced LDL-cholesterol at 5 weeks (by 13 %), but not at 10 weeks (by 7 %) and lipoprotein by a net of 14 %. In men, flaxseed reduced HDL-Cholesterol by a net of 16 % and 9 % at 5 and 10 weeks, respectively | Bloedon et al. (2008) |
| One group was fed high cholesterol diet (2 g/100 g) and other was fed same diet supplemented with flax/pumpkin seed mixture in ratio of 5:1 | Rats | When compared with hypercholesterolemic group, flax group showed reduced levels of total cholesterol (220.35 vs 120.48 mg/dL), triacylglycerols (100.93 vs 77.99 mg/dL), VLDL-C (20.19 vs 15.59 mg/dL), LDL-C (171.83 vs 65.37 mg/dL), while increased level of HDL-C from 28.33 to 39.51 mg/dL | Barakat and Mehmoud (2011) |
| Flaxseed oil was fed in basal diet @ 6.4 % for 165 days | Trout | Sensory evaluations showed the preference for the taste of the flaxseed oil-enriched fillets to the control fillets | Simmons et al. (2011) |
LDL low density lipoprotein; VLDL very low density lipoprotein; HDL high density lipoprotein; TG triglycerides; TD true digestibility; NPU net protein utilization; PER protein efficiency ratio; BV biological value