The Wunders of Flax

Because I enjoy being physically active, I’ve come to love the fact that flax has help reduce the inflammation in my joints.  So, when I saw a blog post about how perilla tea has helped someone else overcome pain caused by inflammation in their wrists, I thought I should check it out.

The perilla plant is from the mint family and is most commonly found in India and East Asia. The Healthy Doses blog provides a nice explanation of the plant’s health benefits and of how to make tea.  Like flax, perilla is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, hence its anti-inflammation properties.

I asked the blog’s author to tell me about how much omega-3 could be found in perilla, and he/she offered the following: 

“One tablespoon of perilla oil contains 7700 mg of omega-3.” – from http://circleofhealers.com/articles/oils/essential-fatty-acids.html “

“Flaxseed (linseed) oil is reasonably priced and contains the mix: 18g/100g of linoleic and a whopping 45 g/100g of linolenic.  Only perilla oil has a higher linolenic percentage.” – from http://www.geocities.com/paisleydals/efas.html

In addition, perilla oil does not aggravate the stomach as some oils do. 

I’ll probably continue to use flax as the main source of increasing my omega-3 fatty acids because flax is also a great source of lignans and fiber.  (I’m also not much of  a tea drinker.)  But I wanted to pass the information along because it sounds like a good compliment to flax.

PS – Anyone interested in seeing the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids in other foods should check out this previous post.  And check out the information at Healthy Doses.