Flaxseed Slashes Cholesterol Levels

A good source of omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseed is high in ecoisolariciresinol diglucoside, a type of lignan, an antioxidant plant compound. Suzanne Hendrich, from Iowa State University, and colleagues enrolled 90 men and women, suffering from elevated cholesterol but otherwise healthy, in a twelve-week long study.  Subjects were divided into three groups and randomly assigned to daily consume tablets that contained zero, 150, or 300 milligrams of flaxseed lignans. Men who consumed either quantity of flaxseed lignans reduced their cholesterol levels by 10%.