What Is Organic Flaxseed Oil Exactly?

Many people today have a preference for products that are organic in nature and flaxseed oil is no exception to this desire. I do think it is important though to understand exactly what organic means, and especially when it comes to the growth of flax as a crop.

Often the word organic is mentioned in conjunction with the term cold pressing. I have done a separate article on that which you can read by clicking on this link.

What Does The Term Organic Actually Mean?

The word “organic” is used by many different manufacturers to describe their products, but what does it actually mean for the average end-user, like me and you. In simple terms, they are crops that are grown using organic farming and that started all the way back in the 1940s and started to take off as part of the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s.

Farming of crops, in general, requires both fertilizing and the spraying of crops with pesticide killer. Both of these were required to encourage growth and protect the crops.

However, many people had huge concerns about the health implications of these practices. They also had concerns about the damage these farming practices were doing to the environment. In particular the pollution of both the air and water.

The growth of organic farming as a result of these concerns and the growth of flax was included in this turn around in practices by many farmers in the USA, Canada, and the Western world. The good news is that many governments have a special certification in place, and you must have that before you can state that your product is indeed organic.

Benefits of Organic Products

There is strong evidence to suggest that there are huge environmental benefits from this practice. The food produced, including flaxseed oil is much healthier and safer, and that organic food also tastes much better. It is certainly much safer to eat, though sadly more expensive to purchase.

So for most users of flaxseed oil, there is more than enough evidence to state that the organic version is healthier and tastes much better, which is indeed good news.

Understanding Organic Certification

So if you are considering buying flaxseed oil, you should get one that is “Certified Organic.” At the moment the USA, Canada, Japan and countries within the European Union all have official certification programs in place.

These state that certain tests and standards are in place to ensure that the flax growth is 100% organic. That should give us all much better peace of mind. Oils that are chemical-free will have been properly tested for any type of fungicides, pesticides, and forms of weed control.

The National Medical and Research Centre recommends that we have an equal amount of Omega 3 and Omega 6 in our bodies. That balance is very important. Typically people have the wrong imbalance of these two fatty acids.

The reason for this is that Omega 6 is found in foods such as margarine and butter. Omega 3, however, is mainly found in fish. By taking flaxseed oil, which is high in Omega 3 we address that balance.

By ensuring that we use organic flaxseed oil, not only do we get the benefits of Omega 3, but we also get a healthier version of this oil and one that tastes a great deal better.

I have already written a lot about the benefits of flaxseed oil, but the main one is that it helps a lot with maintaining a healthy heart. Using an organic variety will ensure that we are not putting any form of chemicals into our body, and that is clearly an added benefit.

So if you are buying an organic oil, just check on the packaging that it is from one of the countries that I have mentioned above, and it should state clearly on the label that it is certified organic.