Looking to stabilize your blood sugar? Flax may be your answer!

A recent study investigated the effects of flax ingestion on fasting glucose and insulin levels in overweight or obese individuals.

In a 12-week, randomized cross-over design 25 over weight or obese pre-diabetic individuals were asked to add a total of 0 grams, 13 grams, or 26 grams of ground flaxseed to their daily nutrition.

Researchers were interested in the impact that varying doses of ground flax seed would have on fasting glucose, and insulin, as well as markers of inflammation (C-reactive protein, cytokines, and adipokines) in pre-diabetic persons over a 12 week period.

Here is what they found
Adding zero grams of ground flax seed to daily nutrition actually resulted in an increase in fasting blood glucose and insulin levels over the 12 week period. Adding 13 grams of ground flax seed daily resulted in a decrease in both fasting blood glucose and insulin.

It would be natural to think that if adding 13 grams of flax meal resulted in decreased fasting blood glucose and insulin levels that adding 26 grams would cause and even greater decrease in these markers.

Interestingly this is not what occurred. Adding 26 grams of ground flax seed to daily nutrition over the course of 12 weeks did not lower fasting blood glucose or insulin levels in pre-diabetic participants.

Before you start cutting your flax dosage let me tell you this- adding 26 grams of ground flax seed per day was able to maintain participants fasting blood glucose and insulin readings….which is far better than having it increase! While this result is not completely understood, it has been reproduced in several studies.

Ground flax seed consumption did not decrease markers of inflammation. The control group (no addition of ground flax seed) saw an increase in markers of inflammation. So while adding flax did not decrease the markers of inflammation, it at the very least was able to prevent them from increasing.

The addition of flax did result in increased Omega 3 levels in the blood over a 12-week period with the higher flax dosage resulting in a greater increase in this level.

What is the moral of the story?
Including ground flax seed as part of your daily nutrition (13 grams per day) can help to lower fasting blood glucose and insulin levels.

So while we are busy adding omega 3 to our day, let’s be sure we get at least 13 grams of ground flax per day.

Reference: Hutchins AM, Brown BD, Cunnane SC, Domitrovich SG, Adams ER, Bobowiec CE. Daily flaxseed consumption improves glycemic control in obese men and women with pre-diabetes: a randomized study. Nutr Res. 2013 May;33(5):367-75.

Dr Paul Cribb is an award-winning scientist, author, and the creator of mp-body.com – the first ever science-based, research-proven, nationally accredited body transformation program. Learn more here

Tags: nutrition Dr. Paul Cribb