Linseed as a Functional Food for the Management of Obesity
Linseed has been cultivated for at least 8000 years and is now a major oilseed crop in many countries. The major components with potential therapeutic uses are the essential n-3 fatty acid, α-linolenic acid (ALA), lignans such as secoisolariciresinol digl
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Siti Raihanah Shafie, Hemant Poudyal, Sunil K. Panchal, and Lindsay Brown
Obesity and Functional Foods In the short term, energy from food is stored predominantly as glycogen for rapid release as glucose; in the longer term, fats are favoured for energy storage. This storage allows the energy from times of excess to be used in times of famine. Continued excess energy intake means that stores keep increasing, resulting in obesity, especially in the abdomen. Obesity is an enormous cost to the community as it greatly increases the risk of chronic diseases including diabetes, disability, depression, cardiovascular disease and some cancers, as well as mortality [1]. Food is essential for nutrition, but non-nutritive components of food can promote health and reduce the risk of disease. This combination of nutrition and health benefits defines functional foods and includes bioactive fatty acids, phenolic compounds, plant sterols, dietary calcium and dietary fibre [2].
S.R. Shafie L. Brown (&) School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia e-mail: [email protected] S.R. Shafie e-mail: SitiRaihanah.Shafi[email protected] S.R. Shafie Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia H. Poudyal Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition, Graduate School of Medicine, The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8302, Japan e-mail: [email protected]
History of Linseed Wild flax fibres were possibly used for making cords by early hunter-gatherers 32,000-26,000 years ago in Dzudzuana cave, Georgia [3], but the evidence for identification as flax is argued [4]. Flax or linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) is now known only as a cultivated plant with domestication in the Near East as one of the original crops in agriculture more than 8000 years ago, with pale flax as the progenitor [5–7]. Linseed is the emblem of Northern Ireland, and common linseed is the national flower of Belarus. Linseed has been widely used to make linen for cloth since ancient times. Linseed oil has been used for medicinal purposes in both ancient and modern societies and has been discussed as a modern functional food [8]. Linseed is found in two varieties with shiny yellow or dark brown seed. The seed is oblong in shape, flattened with a pointed tip, smooth glossy surface, comprising an embryo with two cotyledons surrounded by a thin endosperm [9]. Linseed is mainly grown for its oil as a major source of α-linolenic acid (ALA, Fig. 13.1), the essential n-3 fatty acid, but there are also industrial, medicinal and nutritional uses. Linseed yields vary depending on the season, weather and location, with best yields in moderate-to-cool climates [10]. Canada is the world’s largest producer of linseed with 2013 production of 712,000 tons or around 32 % of the world production of 2.2 million tons; other countries producing more than 100,000 tons in 2013 were China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
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