Elevated levels of proinflammatory oxylipins associated with aging can be normalized by eating ground flaxseed.
me previously explored the study “Potent antihypertensive effect of flaxseed in the diet in hypertensive patients” in my video Flax seeds for hypertension. This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in which researchers disguised ground flax seeds in baked goods versus placebo muffins without flaxseed and observed an extraordinary drop in high blood pressure. As you can imagine, the flaxseed industry was delighted, praising “awesome” finds, as am I. After all, high blood pressure is “the biggest risk factor” for death in the world. Yes, we give people medicine, lots of medicine, but most people don’t. carry them. Nine out of ten people take less than 80 percent of the blood pressure pills they are prescribed.
Is not difficult understand because. “Patients are being asked to follow an inconvenient and potentially expensive regimen, which is likely to have a detrimental effect on health-related quality of life, to treat a largely asymptomatic condition that typically causes no problems for many years.” Therefore, they may feel worse instead of better because of the side effects. So some think the answer is give they were given even more medications to counteract the effects of the first medications, such as giving the men Viagra to counteract the erectile dysfunction caused by their blood pressure pills.
What if wearing A dietary strategy, especially if it can be just as effective? And in fact, the drop in blood pressure that researchers observed in the flaxseed study “was greater than the average drop seen with standard doses of antihypertensive medications.” Flax seeds are also cheaper compared to single medications, and most patients take multiple medications. Additionally, flax seeds have good side effects beyond their antihypertensive actions. Taking a tablespoon of flaxseed a day is a lot of fiber for people who live on cheeseburgers and milkshakes all their lives, and your gut bacteria may need a little time to adjust to the new abundance. Therefore, those starting out on low-fiber diets may want to take flax seeds a little easy at first.
Not all studies have shown However, it has significant blood pressure-lowering effects. More than a dozen trials have been carried out so far, involving more than a thousand subjects. And yes, when we put them all together, overall, there were “significant reductions in both SBP and DBP” (systolic blood pressure (the top number) and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number)) “after supplementation with several flaxseed products.” But none were as dramatic as what the researchers had found in that six-month trial. The longer trials tended to show better results, and some of the trials only used flaxseed oil or some type of extract. of linseed. We think This is because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. “Each of the components of interest in flaxseed, ALA, lignans, fiber and peptides (omega-3s, cancer-fighting lignans, all soluble fiber and plant proteins, for example)” contribute to the reduction of BP. .” Okay, but how? Because? What is the mechanism?
Some common blood pressure medications, such as Norvasc or Procardia, work in part reducing the heart’s ability to contract or slow down the heart. So could it be that this is how flax seeds work, also? But not. in my video Benefits of flax seeds for inflammation, I describe the study “Dietary flaxseed reduces central aortic blood pressure without cardiac involvement but through changes in plasma oxylipins.” What are oxylipins?
“Oxylipins are a group of fatty acid metabolites” involved in inflammation and, as a result, have been implicated in many pro-inflammatory conditions, including aging and cardiovascular disease. “The best-characterized oxylipins in cardiovascular disease are derived from the w-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid,” a long-chain omega-6 fatty acid. These are found preformed in animal products, particularly chicken and eggs, and can be produced within the body from omega-6-rich junk oils, such as cottonseed oil, as noted below and at 3:49 from my video. But, as this study is titled, “elevated levels of proinflammatory oxylipins in older subjects are normalized due to the consumption of flaxseed.
This is how we think about flaxseed consumption reduces blood pressure in patients with hypertension: by inhibiting the enzyme that produces these pro-inflammatory oxylipins. I’ll spare you the acronym overload, but eat flax seeds inhibits the activity of the enzyme that produces these proinflammatory oxylipins, called leukotoxin diols, which in turn can lower blood pressure. “Identifying The biological mechanism adds confidence to the antihypertensive actions of dietary flaxseed,” but that’s not all oxylipins do. Oxylipins can also play a role in the aging process. However, we may be able to “beneficially disrupt these biological changes associated with inflammation and aging” with a nutritional intervention like flaxseed. Older adults around 50 years old have higher levels of this arachidonic acid-derived oxylipin compared to younger adults around 20 years old, as you can see in the graph below and at 4:56 in my video. “These elevated concentrations of proinflammatory oxylipins in the older age group…may…explain the higher levels of inflammation in older people than in younger people.” As we age, we are more likely to suffer from inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. Therefore, this “elevation of pro-inflammatory oxylipins…may predispose people to chronic diseases.”
What would happen if you took those seniors and gave Those muffins, like the ones with ground flaxseed? That’s just what a group of researchers did. Four weeks later, the subjects’ levels fell to levels similar to those of 20-year-olds, as seen in the graph below and at 5:32 in my video“demonstrating that a possible therapeutic strategy to correct the harmful proinflammatory profile of oxylipin is through dietary supplementation with flaxseed.”
What about flax and cancer? See related posts below.
I also have a video about diabetes: Flax seeds versus diabetes.
If you are interested in losing weight, check out Benefits of flaxseed flour for weight loss.
What about the cyanide content of flax? I responded that in Friday’s Favorites: How well does cooking destroy the cyanide in flax seeds and should we be concerned about it?.
What else can help fight inflammation? Check out related posts below.
