Talk:Linseed oil

Food and drink Start‑class Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Food and drinkWikipedia:WikiProject Food and drinkTemplate:WikiProject Food and drinkFood and drink articles

Start

This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Mid

This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Food and Drink task list:

To edit this page, select here

Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Food and drink:

Help bring these Top Importance articles currently B Status or below up to GA status: Agaricus bisporus (i.e. mushroom), Beef, Bread, Curry, Drink, Food, Ham and eggs, Soy sauce, Sushi, Yogurt
Bring these Top Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Beer, French cuisine, Sugar
Bring these High Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Apple, Burger King, Fish
Participate in project-related deletion discussions.
Delete unrelated trivia sections found in articles. Please review WP:Trivia and WP:Handling trivia to learn how to do this.
Add the {{WikiProject Food and drink}} project banner to food and drink related articles and content to help bring them to the attention of members. For a complete list of banners for WikiProject Food and drink and its child projects, select here.
Provide photographs and images for Category:Wikipedia requested images of food
Consider joining this project's Assessment task force. List any project ideas in this section

Note: These lists are transcluded from the project's tasks pages.

Alternative medicine C‑class

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Alternative medicine, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Alternative medicine related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Alternative medicineWikipedia:WikiProject Alternative medicineTemplate:WikiProject Alternative medicineAlternative medicine articles
C	This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Nutrient content of flax seed oil

Approximate per 100 grams (3½ ounces) Food energy 450 calories (1,880 kilojoules) Fat 41.0 grams Total dietary fibre 28.0 grams Protein 20.0 grams ... """

This should be cleaned up ! There are no wys 100 grams of oil can hold 20.0 grams of Protein !! May be the whole seed !! Would be nice to have more healh infos, also interesting that linseed oil is difficult to preserve (harder thatn other cold pressed oil! Because of Omega3 ? Sort of more like a fish oil ? Very interesting, looks possible to have the fishy oil benefit without the accumulation of toxic due to the higher position inside the food channel)

Agreed, that's absolutely ridiculous. It should be something like 100% fat, and at 9kcal/g, a total of 900kcal/100g. Tom Huckstep 17:16, 12 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the claim for fiber in flaxseed oil makes no sense. In addition, there is no mention of "stand oil" a standard component of artists' oil painting brews, which is also a modified linseed oil. 24 June AD 2006

Merging

Copied here from Flax seed oil, prior to merge. - brenneman ^(t)^(c) 05:48, 11 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Flax seed oil often used as a popular Nutritional Supplement is an oil extracted from the stems of the plant flax.

Health Benefits

Being a rich source of many Essential fatty acids| (such as omega-3 fatty acid, omega-6 fatty acid and omega-9 fatty acid), as well as containing B vitamins, potassium, lecithin, magnesium, fiber, protein, and zinc, Flax seed oil is commonly considered a very healthful supplement.

Conditions

It has been asserted that a diet rich in omega fatty acids may reduce Coronary heart disease, arthritis, cancer and various skin and tissue problems.

As a fire hazard

I believe that flax oil (aka linseed oil) is only a fire hazard (on oily rags etc.) if the metallic driers have been added. Edible flax oil (such as Barleen's) presents no such hazard. See throop (Wed, Oct 6 2004 7:15 pm). "Pyrotechnic Salad". Newsgroup: rec.woodworking, rec.pyrotechnic and sci.med.nutrition rec.food.cooking, rec.woodworking, rec.pyrotechnic and sci.med.nutrition. {{cite newsgroup}}: Check |newsgroup= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)David.Throop 03:42, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Boiled Linseed oil is a very real fire hazard. I nearly burned down my house with a bucket of Boiled Linseed soaked rags I left sitting after finishing my floor. I wanted an old fashioned oil and wax floor finish, but I had no "old timers" around to warn me about the fire hazard. Boiled Linseed Oil soaked rags will spontaneously combust. I confused the warning on the side of the Boiled Linseed oil can with the old, common-sense warning against leaving oily rags around where something like a spark or cigarette might start a fire. I learned the hard way that the can had a very different, specific warning. Boiled Linseed oil is safe once you know to soak the rags in water when you clean up.

I'm no Luddite, but I think the oil and wax finish is easier to master and nicer looking than any of the modern wood finsihes.

I don't know if raw, edible Linseed oil is a fire hazard. 28 January 2007 Noah Spurrier

Polar foods citation

I've put back the deleted commercial link to Polar Foods - actually replaced it with a more specific one. (I also replaced the second link that the same editor deleted, probably accidentally). The reason is that the oil discussed there is actually the subject of the footnoted text, and the link has more details on it. The fact that a site is commercial doesn't preclude it as a reference, if the purpose of the link is otherwise within WP policy. Waitak 21:00, 26 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Dubious health benefits

The Wiki entry for flax mentions some possible harmful effects to men concerning prostate cancer that I think should me mentioned here. While searching for a reference I found a page that also mentions the difference between omega-3's from flax and from fish, and how flax oil may not be as good. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA400051. CSPI recommends men not take flax oil since it's not yet been show to have positive benefits, but may gave negative ones: http://www.cspinet.org/nah/12_05/flax_can.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by Djomac (talk • contribs) 17:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outrageous Claims

..Flaxseed oil has a higher rate of curing cancer than Chemotherapy..

The cancer claims are ridiculous and dangerous.

What on earth is the source of the nonsense about "Fire departments treat the wood handles of hand tools that have metal implements (e.g. axes, plaster hooks) with linseed oil to prevent buildup of static electricity"? What a load of crap! Fire departments, just like landscapers, farmers, carpenters and a multitude of other people who work with wooden-hafted tools use linseed oil as a wood preservative. Nothing more.

I've excised this nonsense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.130.64.210 (talk) 16:13, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Linoleic <=> Linolenic Confusion?

In the section "Nutritional Supplement", the sentence "Plant breeders have developed flaxseed with higher alpha linoleic acid content (70%) and very low alpha linolenic acid content (< 3%)." has me confused. I have never before encountered a reference to "alpha linoleic acid", and can't imagine anyone seeking to minimize "alpha linolenic acid content". RCopple (talk) 16:56, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The genetically modified variety of linseed, trade name "LINOLA", has only 2% alpha linolenic acid (Omega-3) and 72% linoleic acid (Omega-6). These seeds are yellow, in contrast to the natural strain which are brown and contain 35-66% alpha-linolenic acid and only 7-19% linoleic acid. The purpose of breeding the low omega-3 variety was to produce an oil that was less oxidative and more suitable for human consumption, rather than for industrial use. However, this renders the genetically modified flaxseed oil useless as a source of alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3)for nutritional or health-enhancing purposes. Why bother taking omega-6 containing flaxseed oil when you can take corn oil for omega-6? The product information sheet should be checked first to ensure the content of omega-3 FAs. See Lipid Technology 1994, 6(2), 29-33 (85.3.152.207 (talk) 20:28, 9 September 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Metallic driers food-safe?

There seems to be dispute going on about whether modern (no-lead) driers, such as those being added to boiled linseed oil, are food-safe. Does anyone have any definitive source for this? Rumiton (talk) 14:50, 8 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wood Finish

"Oiled wood may be yellowish and is likely to darken with age." Can someone explain this further. To me, wood coated in linseed oil has a much more pleasing and natural looking finish than that treated with varnish. However this yellowing, which I have noticed with pine, can spoil the look of the wood. I assume that non-natural oils do not cause yellowing, but it does seem a shame to oil natural wood with man-made chemicals. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.56.111.181 (talk) 02:57, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There appears to be a contradiction in this section. The first part mentions "Liquid water will penetrate a linseed oil finish in mere minutes and water vapour bypasses it almost completely" and then continues to mention "and used in place of epoxy to seal modern wooden surfboards". Based on that, it would seem incompatible that a finish that doesn't protect the wood from water would be used for a surfboard. (Also, 'liquid' water sounds redundant). Can someone clarify that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.100.164 (talk) 22:28, 29 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Photo is of flaxseed oil, not linseed oil

Repoman23 (talk) 20:13, 22 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Article Intro Implies Linseed Oil is Food Safe

While Linseed Oil and Flaxseed oil come from the same source Flaxseed oil is cold pressed and raw food grade oil while Linseed Oil is a treated substance that is sold in hardware stores and is NOT safe to consume. Linseed oil is used in paint, rust remover and finishers. Linseed Oil is not Flaxseed Oil as is stated in the first paragraph. This is dangerous as the article moves from discussion of industrial uses of Linseed oil to the health benefits of Flaxseed oil without any discussion of the difference between the two substances. Repoman23 (talk) 17:34, 28 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seems that you might be on to something but we need a good book that discusses the possible distinction between flaxseed and linseed oils. I will say that just because linseed oil is used for all sorts of apps does not mean that it is unfit for human consumption. Please look for a book that discusses the point that interests you - my source {Ullmanns Encyclopedia) says that they are the same.--Smokefoot (talk) 00:43, 23 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, will do, but you should at least distinguish between boiled linseed oil which is NOT FOOD SAFE and is sold in hardware stores and cold pressed flaxseed oil which does have some nutritional benefits.Repoman23 (talk) 02:54, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am unsure how digestible boiled linseed oil is, but I doubt that it is particularly toxic. If someone ate linseed oil that they had bought at a hardware store, we could not reasonably be expected to stop that kind of dumb behavior. There is a section near the end of our article on "Boiled linseed oil" and reading that makes it pretty clear that it is not intended for consumption. But Wikipedia-Chem does not add warnings about not eating chemicals. Thanks for your help, but I dont think that we have a problem. I still would be interested in finding a source that distinguishes flaxseed and linseed oils.--Smokefoot (talk) 03:02, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I run a workshop producing food grade utensils: barbecues, smokers etc., and I am afraid you are not correct regarding toxicity. Boiled linseed oil used to be just that, but for the past 30 years thinning and drying agents have been added which make it highly toxic, not just inedible, but unusable in any cooking environment. See this ad [1] as an example. Rumiton (talk) 04:02, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is a very confusing topic! Most modern "boiled" Linseed Oil has added chemicals, and would be obviously unsafe to consume - and may not be labeled with details about the processing/additives. But "raw" / "pure" Linseed Oil is also sold for various non-food uses. How can we know what is really in these products, and what would make them how unsafe to consume? -96.233.17.252 (talk) 21:21, 2 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]