Last week, someone left a comment on my Cod Liver Oil 101 video which said, “Flax oil is better for you – cod liver oil can raise your cholesterol level!”
This comment disturbed me as it is this kind of thinking that is stealing people’s health!
First, let me say that I am not against flax oil. Flax oil is a wonderfully healthy oil that is extremely high in omega 3 fats. The Scandinavian traditional diet even lauds flax oil as a health food.
Use of flax oil in small amounts in homemade salad dressings is a wonderful way to facilitate the proper omega 3/omega 6 fatty acid balance in your diet – a balance that should be in the 1:1 – 1:4 range, not the 1:20 – 1:50 range of most Americans! Using walnut oil accomplishes a similar goal.
Getting this fatty acid balance in the correct range is critical to keeping inflammation at low levels in the body. Overconsumption of omega-6 fats as is typical in the grain-heavy Western diet rapidly causes inflammation with a sometimes unpredictable mix of symptoms based on one’s genetic predisposition.
Flax oil has historically had problems with rancidity as it is such a delicate oil that should always be kept refrigerated and never, ever heated.
Modern refrigeration during shipping has eliminated much of the rancidity problems, nonetheless, care must be taken to consume flax oil only in small amounts. Overconsumption of polyunsaturated oils even if primarily omega 3 can lead to inflammation just the same as an imbalance in the ratio between omega 3/omega 6 fats that are consumed in the diet.
Despite the fact that flax oil contains a healthy form of omega-3 fats, it is still not a good substitute for cod liver oil and here’s why:
Flax Oil Does Not Contain Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Cod liver oil, particularly the fermented kind, contains an ample amount of the fat-soluble vitamins A and D and even some K2 known as Activator X when sourced from fermented fish livers. Traditional cultures studied by Dr. Weston A. Price consumed these fat-soluble activators at a rate 10 times greater than Americans living in the 1920s and 1930s!
A daily dose of cod liver oil is an important insurance policy for maintaining health as these fat-soluble vitamins supercharge mineral absorption in the diet and work synergistically to maintain immune function at a high level. Note the while krill oil contains beneficial omega-3 fats, it is not an adequate substitute.
Similarly, flax oil contains no fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K although for a different reason – because it is derived from plant food.
While some plant foods contain vitamin K1, vitamins A and D are not found in any plant foods and must be obtained from animal foods. Is beta carotene vitamin A too? No, it is not as is frequently and erroneously claimed.
The Omega 3 Fats in Flax Oil Must Be Converted
The omega 3 fats in cod liver oil are primarily in the form of DHA and EPA which are in a readily usable form for the brain and neurological system.
The omega 3 fats in flax oil are in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which must be converted by the body into EPA and DHA. If you have any digestive imbalance issues, which most Westerners do to some degree, the conversion of ALA into the critical EPA and DHA is unknown and more than likely insufficient to maintain health.
Therefore, it is risky to take flax oil and assume that the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA is sufficient for your body’s needs. It is better to consume a high-quality cod liver oil to obtain EPA and DHA directly with no guesswork and finger crossing involved.
Natural Cholesterol is NOT Bad for You!
The comment regarding cod liver oil raising cholesterol levels is particularly concerning to me.
The natural cholesterol in animal fats like cod liver oil is very important for tissue repair and brain function which explains why cholesterol levels rise slowly as we age. It is important to note that women with the highest cholesterol live the longest! This is probably because natural cholesterol provides the precursors necessary for the production of natural steroids in the body that protects against heart disease and cancer.
So, what cholesterol is bad for us?
It is the oxidized or rancid cholesterol found in processed foods that should be avoided. Consuming oxidized cholesterol raises the risk of inflammatory conditions like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
This is why the cholesterol in raw milk is healthy but the oxidized cholesterol in pasteurized skim milk is bad for you (added in the form of highly processed milk powder which adds body)
If grasping the difference between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol in your diet seems difficult at first, consider that coronary heart disease prior to 1920 was extremely rare in America, but during that same period, Americans consumed butter and cream with abandon!
It is only since the rise of processed foods and factory fats that gained momentum after World War II that heart disease, cancer, and diabetes rates began to skyrocket.
Therefore, enjoy a bit of flax oil added to each cup or so of homemade salad dressing, but never consider it an adequate substitute for your high vitamin cod liver oil!
I’ve never even heard that, but that’s really dumb. I used to take flax oil before I knew better (a couple years ago) and it didn’t make a bit of difference. FLCO? Never want to be without it.
@ April – flax seed oil is not a saturated fat and so very unstable and damaged by heat, generating a toxic, rancid, denaturated oil. W. Price’s work (like many other studies within the natural / alternative medicine field) will never be embraced by “doctors” (at least not by most of them) since that will be the end of the conventional medicine focused on disease, rather than on building health and the end of BigPharma, resulting in a drug free, healthier world :)…
Thanks, Raluca, for addressing that question I had!
A great cod liver oil is Carlson’s. An even better absorbed and stronger one is Genestra Brands Fruit EFA (comes in berry, too), which is what my naturopathic doctor has me taking right now. And it is delicious!
I’ve started taking fermented cod liver oil in preparation for pregnancy! 🙂
YES! What a wise Mom to Be you are!!
No but I believe that coconut oil is a better substitute for flax oil.
Speaking of Cod Liver Oil supplements, I just got an email from radiant life and their alternative to the Fermented cod liver oil (if you can’t do the price, taste or texture) is
“Choose our new Super Nutrient Trio. Consisting of our Radiant Life Desiccated Beef Liver, Radiant Life Krill Oil and an all natural, live source Vitamin D3 serum, our just introduced Super Nutrient Trio is an outstanding and synergistic combination of our most essential nutrients. Our beef liver, nature’s most nutrient dense food, is available in both powder and capsule form, is a powerhouse in terms of Vitamin A, all of the B vitamins and a great source of essential minerals. Likewise, our sustainably sourced krill oil provides an unmatched source of EPA and DHA in phospholipid form coupled with a powerful antioxidant known as astaxanthin. The third leg of this Trio consists of the most concentrated, live source of Vitamin D3 with 2000 IU is a single drop! Overall, our Radiant Life Super Nutrient Trio provides the perfect, all natural combination of wholesome nutrients available on the planet. ”
I know you had a post about Dr. Mercola’s Krill oil, but was interested in your thoughts on Radiant Life’s new product. (BTW, i probably won’t be replacing my Fermented cod liver oil, but thinking of this for the hubby)
Thanks
I would love to know more about an alternative to cod liver oil. My son had an allergic reaction to the fermented cod liver oil.
Hi Monica, you can try the fermented skate oil and if that doesn’t work, you can eat liver 2-3 times a week.
Re liver, if you have to go to cooking liver to get these nutrients, since liver is often an acquired taste, I find making liver pate (with a quality or home-made mustard and other seasonings) works out nicely. You don’t need only do this with chicken or turkey livers, as beef liver works just fine.
This is not to say Krill Oil isn’t good, but when I tried it, it made my legs numb from the butt down. I already have a slight neuropathy in my feet so this was not good. I experimented several times, and it does the numbing thing every time. So does Tylenol.
Something I try to be mindful of are foods which are very high in estrogenic properties. Even natural foods like flax seeds and flax oil, like many other foods (soy, sesame seeds, and various beans), are very high in estrogen and can make certain health issues worse such as fibroids or fibrocystic breast conditions. Even if you have a traditional, balanced diet, even moderate consumption of these foods could be problematic anyway because of all the xeno-estrogens in our environment from plastics and other chemicals, which are increasingly pervasive in the world due to industry use and production of new chemicals.
Here’s a link with information about phyto-estrogens in our diets.
What? Is this really true? Like I said earlier, I make flax seed bread for our family usually several times a week, and I have a uterine fibroid. I have never heard of these things before. I don’t know whether to believe them or not. Are there any other articles or studies out there that talk about this? If we can’t trust our doctors, how can we trust the people out there selling supplements? Everybody’s selling something… I’m going to go back to the “If it’s been eaten for centuries, it’s not going to kill me now.” Hasn’t flax been eaten for a long time?
Hi April, yes flax has been eaten for a long time and it is a wonderful food. The problem is that it has never been consumed with all the psuedo estrogen mimicking chemicals in the environment like we have today. For folks that are very sensitive and estrogen dominant, Raine makes a good point – probably best to skip the flax. It is not necessary in the diet except as a plant based omega 3 oil which can easily be obtained elsewhere in better form such as cod liver oil.
Hi April. Just thought I’d share ~ I used to have really bad endometriosis and have had a couple of uterine cysts. I have them pretty well managed (though not completely healed yet) through diet, supplements, and self-massage, but whenever I eat flaxseeds in any quantity, I have a major flare-up and pain. Filtered expeller-pressed flaxseed oil doesn’t effect me that way, it’s just the whole flax seeds – it may be the lignans. If it’s something you’ve been eating for a while, you may want to try cutting it out for a while and see how you feel. Take care!
Amber
I think I might try taking a break from the flax seed bread for a while then, especially since I have a uterine fibroid and it frequently hurts. I had no idea that the flax seeds might be affecting it. That means I’ll be looking for a new dependable healthy bread recipe. Anyone have any suggestions? 😉
Sourdough. Sarah can help you with making your own starter, and lots of recipes.
As to your question about the food pyramid. Never trust anything from the gov’t when it concerns your nutrition and/or your health because they don’t care about your health. If the new food pyramid were turned upside down it would work out a lot better, health-wise, with some minor tweaking, of course. Good fats and oils should be the major thing we consume daily, then meat/fish, etc. Sweetners should be least consumed. A lot of people (I’ve heard them, believe it or not) think the food pyramid is to be used from the top down (i.e., eat mostly what is at the top), others think it’s eat least of what’s at the top. I suppose it’s a matter of perception. They don’t understand it any more than the gov’t does! I don’t follow a pyramid, to be honest. But the boys in WADC have to have some sort of gimmick to try to convince the public they know something – anything – about food. They don’t.
I had to move completely away from flax seeds and flax oil because when I started into menopause several years ago, it kept triggering onset menstruation even after I’d gone over a year without a cycle. Lots of breakthrough bleeding (sorry for the graphics). I don’t have that trouble with FCLO. The problem I do have with FCLO is burping the fishy taste, which gags me after a while. I have had dysbiosis in the past (healed now) but I still burp it sometimes. Even the capsules don’t help. So I just take periodic breaks for a couple of days. Seems to help.
Thanks for the suggestion on sourdough, which is one of my favorite breads. If I’m going to stop making the flax seed bread, I have to have another yummy one lined up to replace it, or I’m going to have a lot of sad faces at the supper table. We all really like the flax seed bread. I read the Nourishing Traditions cookbook a while back, and I seem to remember the bread chapter was distressingly scanty.
I sure hope we don’t get fishy burps too. I wondered about that when I ordered the capsules. That would definitely be a killer for the product in our house. I know for sure my husband is not going to want us to smell of fish all the time (much less regurgitate the taste). Not that I do either, for that matter! Maybe somebody could start a business making the capsules with parsley added in too, or something. 😀
Hi D. and April, I used to make my own sourdough years ago when there weren’t any decent breads to be found at the healthfood store, but no longer do as there are so many wonderful brands to buy these days. I understand it is more expensive this way, but I spend so much time in the kitchen preparing everything from scratch that making bread (which I do not enjoy doing) is something I now buy. I save so much by preparing most of our food from scratch that the extra for a couple loaves of bread every week is not a big deal.
I’m not sure if you will see this, but if you do, I take mine during dinner. I will eat a few bites, take one pill, eat a few more bites, take another pill, and finish dinner or take more depending on how much you want to take. OH, I guess I should have stated that I buy the capsules. DUH. I really wish I could talk to April because like her I had been faithfully following my dr. advice to handle cholesterol and type 2 diabetes and I was getting sicker and fatter despite doing what they say. I’ve lost 50 lbs and my cholesterol is better than ever by eating butter, meat and clo. I however choose not to eat grains, potatoes, or sugar of any kind because of my situation. Not everyone has to be that extreme.
I have to admit being disgusted by the fishy burps as well, but won’t pay the even higher capsule price. I found that if I take my liquid FCLO right before bed chased by OJ, it works well for me. I don’t know too many people who burp in their sleep, and it’s digested by the time you wake up. ; )
I’ve never heard that before! lol
Why shouldn’t flax seed be heated? I frequently make a very tasty bread that has flax seed in it. Also – this is a general question, and I’m not trying to be offensive, I really want to know – if Price’s work is so informative and crucial, why isn’t it more generally embraced by mainstream doctors? In some ways, it comes across as cultish.
You are kidding, right? Mainstream doctors ARE a cult! And they march to their own party line.
It was an honest question she had, so let’s take it easy and help her in a calm way. Your response could make someone feel ashamed for asking these things.
We should be encouraging honest questions. One way to do that is by being forebearing and gentle, even when we think the question is proposterous.
“why isn’t it more generally embraced by mainstream doctors?”
Your seriously asking that? Mainstream doctors are trained to treat pathology with pharmacology, and are usually ignorant about the real importance of nutrition.
Kelli, see above comment to Marina.
Your post of scolding another poster about scolding is kinda hypocritical isn’t? First off, she made a bold STATEMENT that people who follow the traditional diet come off as cultish..this wasn’t a question, it was a opinion of her own. Marina had a fine response and her own statement and opinion that doctors themselves seem like a cult. Which I would agree with her statement as my own opinion. But I’ve never trusted a human just because they went to a school created by other humans and now rule over others as “knowing best” simply because they have a piece of paper that says so. I for one like common sense. Is it common sense that we are now more diseased laden than our ancestors? Obviously the medical field is missing the problem, cancer and all sorts of horrific illnesses are on the rise. I remember back when it was rare to hear of someone having cancer, especially a child. Now I could probably name you a dozen off the top of my head. That is the truth and obviously the medicine, terrible diets and environment play a huge role. So will we continue to bury our head in the sand until we die at 65 of a preventable disease, tired wrinkled and false teeth? Will we dish out thousands of dollars to “treat” these diseases that keep coming back to haunt us or never go away? I for one see it isn’t working so I used common sense and started researching for my own health and for my family. Call it what you want, but I know I won’t regret my decisions.
Mainstream medicine doesn’t like Price as folks following his advice don’t need doctors or drugs much. Why would doctors and Big Pharma support an approach that would cause them to lose money? It’s always about the money .. just follow the dollar.
Now, see, Sarah, that just sounds like paranoia and conspiracy theory to me. There are lot of caring doctors out there that really want to encourage their patients to better health, and they’re not all scheming, money-making evil people in the pocket of BIG PHARMACY. Not everybody’s in the choir here. I know probably most people commenting have converted to Price’s philosophy, but I’m just trying to get a handle on it all. If Price and his followers really have got it right, so to speak, but most doctors aren’t embracing it, I think the reason why would be a little more complex than, “They all just want to make money off you and don’t really give a peanut.” Now, I just ordered some of the Green Pastures cod liver oil and will give it a try. I’ve never had any before, or known anyone that takes it. It’s a whale of a lot of money, so it only gets one try for my family. We’ll see if the proof’s in the pudding. 🙂
April, its not about the sincerity of individual doctors that I’m talking about. I’m talking about the American Medical Association and Big Pharma which donates millions of dollars to medical schools which gives them the power to use that money for the research projects that they dictate. By controlling med school curriculum (if you don’t believe it, consider that doctors get next to no instruction in nutrition and alternative health methods), Big Pharma is able to create an army of doctors that know nothing except drugs and surgery which is exactly what we have today. Doctors who have no idea how to solve anything medically without drugs is EXACTLY what Big Pharma wants. Again, it’s all about the money and creating a monopoly for your product (in this case, drugs).
You know, my sister said pretty much the same thing to me today about pharmaceutical companies funding medical schools. Are you saying that doctors just don’t get the information they need to properly encourage preventative care, and don’t even know they lack that information? Where is somebody supposed to get trustworthy medical care and information from then, locally, that is?
April, you have to find an MD that has gone outside the box and learned nutrition independently and is operating kind of outside all the AMA guidelines which just reinforce the drugs/surgery approach to everything.
Doctors that are DOs are great too as they can prescribe just like MDs but are usually more holistically minded.
Doctors that are NDs are a good alternative as well. Ask around and you will find some awesome doctors in your community I have no doubt.
“There are lot of caring doctors out there that really want to encourage their patients to better health”
Yeah, with drugs/surgery only! Most doctors know nothing about real health.
April, the next time you see your primary care physician, ask him EXACTLY how much time was spent in medical school learning nutrition, when he attended. Not only will he fumble for an answer, he’ll probably say the same thing as my doctor told me – “about 8 minutes”. And even if they were to study nutrition, they would be studying what the pfarma companies and BigFood tell them is right, such as the current totally bogus USDA food pyramid. What malarkey! My doctor, seriously, thinks Weight Watchers is a healthy approach to good nutrition. Ack. Makes me want to pull my hair out, so I rarely talk food with him (in fact, I rarely SEE him).
The problem I have with mainstream medicine practitioners doling out healthy eating advice is they just don’t understand nutrition, at least not as a trained nutritionist does, because they don’t study it in it’s purest form. Doctors won’t even tell you the honest truth about cholesterol, blood pressure readings, mammograms, or how to best help yourself if you’re diabetic – so why on earth would you depend on a doctor for nutritional advice? If you do, you’ll be heading down the wrong road which ends in a crash and burn.
D, I don’t have a primary care physician. Haven’t found one since moving that wasn’t an evil, scheming, money-greedy doctor, ironically! I have had good doctors in the past, though, just not had good luck since moving. Asking about nutrition training is a good question to remember for when I do find one, though, thanks! And, out of curiosity, what’s wrong with the food pyramid? Didn’t they recently change it?
I need to get me some cod liver oil supplements!