My Daily Dozen recommends at least one tablespoon of ground flax seeds a day, but what about the cyanide?
Swedish dietary guidelines are innovative In many ways. For example, they encourage people to reduce their impact on the climate by choosing more plant-based foods, which tend to produce much less greenhouse gas emissions, which is why “it is important for us to reduce meat consumption…” I was surprised by a page on the official website of the Swedish National Food Agency, which discuss cyanogenic glycosides and hydrogen cyanide and recommends that people “refrain () from eating” ground flaxseed for fear of cyanide toxicity – as in ground flaxseed I encourage everyone to eat every day. No wonder it was the first question I was asked during a presentation in Stockholm!
Was the Swedish government onto something? If I had been duped by researchers funded by Big Flax who claims you could eat pounds – over 150 tablespoons – of ground flaxseed every day and not worry? First, a little background.
As I say in my video Friday favourites: How well does cooking destroy the cyanide in flax seeds?up to one in five plants we eat product cyanide. In fact, if you look at the main food crops in the world (shown in the table below and at 1:07 in my video), more than half are “cyanogen”, i.e. producer of cyanide. But unlike toxic elements like lead, mercury or arsenic which cannot be broken down into anything, cyanide is an organic molecule – a carbon atom bonded to a nitrogen atom. In that organic state it can certainly be toxic, but it loses its toxicity once it’s broken down or complexed with something else, and we have a cyanide detoxifying enzyme in our bodies that do only that. It’s just one of five main ways our body can detoxify cyanide. However, it requires protein to do so, which is why there has been chronic cyanide toxicity among malnourished populations in Africa trying to live off improperly processed cassava roots, for example. But, as long as we get enough protein from our diets, our bodies can detoxify the normal amounts of cyanide we consume each day.
There is a rare congenital genetic disease called Leber’s disease, however, where you are born without the ability to detoxify cyanide. Theoretically, “people susceptible to Leber’s disease can go blind” from drinking apple cider, for example, “due to the effects of cyanide in cider,” but other than that, our bodies have evolved to be cyanide detoxification machines. Of course, there is a limit. For example, there was a case of cyanide poisoning after ingesting bitter almonds. Not regular almonds, which produce about 40 times less cyanide, but bitter almonds, which you can’t even buy. (They are used in making flavorings.) If you managed to get them, eating 50 of them could kill you, or even just a handful for a small child. This suggests that eating 2,000 regular almonds in one sitting could also be bad news.
Although you cannot buy bitter almonds, you can buy apricots and apricots seeds, which are the seeds inside the stone. They actually have fairly toxic levels and have been implied in the event of severe cyanide poisoning, all related to the “Laetrile: cyanide cult, promoting poison for profit” scam which you may recall I wrote about in my Do apricot seeds work as an alternative cure for cancer? video, so I’m totally sympathetic to the regulators to want take a precautionary approach. But, are flaxseeds like bitter almonds, where just a few ounces could kill you, or are they more like regular almonds, where regular food intake wouldn’t even come close?
Although the fact that flax seeds can produce cyanide sounds as if it were a significant health issue, “it’s not for a number of reasons,” according to flax industry-funded scientists. First, an adult human To the ability to detoxify up to 100 mg of cyanide per day. This is where the “safe pounds of flaxseed per day” number comes from. And if you wanted to consume even more than that totally unrealistic 150 tablespoons a day, you could just eat them in baked goods since cooking destroys cyanide. Moreover, eating seven or eight tablespoons of raw flax seeds does not even raise the level of urinary thiocyanate, which is an indicator of cyanide exposure. So it doesn’t even seem like your body is exposed to it. “Thus, flaxseed toxicity from CGs (cyanogenic glycosides) is not a realistic health threat.”
Let’s unbox this. The kitchen part is especially true. Bake muffins with only about a quarter cup of ground flax for 15 to 18 minutes at about 450 degrees Fahrenheit eliminates cyanogenic compounds. It is the same arrive with baked bread, but if you bake ground flax seeds alone, only 20% of the compounds are destroyed even in one hour at 350 degrees. However, baking them whole erases 80% and baking them in bread or muffins eliminates 100%. How does that make sense? It’s the humidity. Heat and water remove cyanide. It can be removed by boiling for just five minutes, when making hot cereal, for example. So, yes, in most cases it is true that cooking removes cyanide compounds from flax, as they are usually found in batter as an egg substitute or in wet batter when baking crackers, for example. In these cases, the cyanide disappeared during cooking. But you can’t just spread ground flax seeds on a baking sheet because they dry out so quickly that only a minority of the cyanide is lost. Why does it matter, though, if your body isn’t even seem notice seven or eight tablespoons when raw? Because your body notices it. Urinary excretion of thiocyanate double at this level, although this is just a sign that your body is actively detoxifying it. And if we can detoxify the equivalent of a kilo of flax per day, what is the problem?
Although “the adult human body has the ability to detoxify ≤100 mg of cyanide/day”, the children also eat flax. Also, as you can see below and at 5:47 in my videoa kilo To about 50% more than the 100mg we could detox and I’m not interested in how much we can detoxify “up to”. For security reasons, we should be looking at the worst-case scenario, not the best-case scenario. Could someone just give study participants different doses of flaxseed and measure how much cyanide ends up in their blood? They did, and I blanket this study in my video Friday favourites: Should we be worried about cyanide in flax seeds?.
SO, Friday Favorites: How Much Does Cooking Destroy Cyanide in Flax Seeds and Should We Be Concerned?? Watch the thrilling conclusion.
I mentioned my Dozens Daily Checklist, which includes my recommendation for at least one tablespoon of ground flaxseed per day. Check it out to find out more.