12 replies to this topic

[AcneIsACurse]

I have a problem with phytoestrogens, they are in soy and flax and both break me out. But I heard flax oil is really good for omega 3 and I want to start taking it, but I'm afraid that the lignans inside that contain phytoestrogens will break me out. Is there any way to get flax oil with the lignans taken out, or is there something else I can take that counteracts the effects of the phytoestrogens?

[Binga]

Just have fish. Some people supplement evening primrose oil though.

[alternativista]

Try krill oil supplements. Or eat fatty, small and/or not to carniverous fish like sardines, wild salmon, herring, small mackerel...

And eggs and meat from pastured animals.

[DaftFrost]

Hmm I myself do breakout from soy but haven't really had issues with flax oil actually. I would breakout with small cysts around my mouth usually after eating soy related food, but drinking liquid flax supplement didn't really cause acne, infact it helped my skin to smoothen.

Try ordering the 3 6 9 Total EFA vegetarian liquid. Liquid forms are lot better.

[AcneIsACurse]

Yeah the flax oil I want to get is in a liquid form and I saw it refrigerated at my local vitamin store. About fish oil, I heard that the reason why it has phytoestrogens is because of the way the gel caps are made. Fish doesn't have phytoestrogens, bush fish oil does because of the gel caps. Does this mean that if I get the liquid form of fish oil and use that for EFAs instead of flax oil then its okay?

[AcneIsACurse]

How much ALA gets converted to DHA anyways?

[Oner]

yea soy, sesame and ESPECIALLY flax break me out. flax is really bad for my acne. I suggest just eating fish daily. I just started eating wild canned salmon from trader joes because i realize my omega 6 to omega 3 ratio is waaayyy to high, i hardly eat anything with omega 3. No improvements yet though, only been 1 day.

[AcneIsACurse]

yea soy, sesame and ESPECIALLY flax break me out. flax is really bad for my acne. I suggest just eating fish daily. I just started eating wild canned salmon from trader joes because i realize my omega 6 to omega 3 ratio is waaayyy to high, i hardly eat anything with omega 3. No improvements yet though, only been 1 day.

Yeah lol I've been eating canned sardines like 5 days in a row each can has 2-2.5 grams of DHA omega 3, I might eventually start taking a fish oil supplement (not the gel capsules because the capsules themselves are made from plants that have phytoestrogens, I'll have to find a PURE fish oil liquid that doesn't have soy or anything else added to it) and hopefully that'll be easier and cheaper.

[Oner]

fish oil also breaks me out. sucks for me. i can't take that route. have you noticed an improvement since eating canned sardines? I'm also doing paleo diet right now and trying to lower my omega 6 intake a lot so that i can speed up the effects of omega 3. today was my third day that i ate salmon and i think i will able to tell in a few more days whether or not it is helping.

[dejaclairevoyant]

We just started buying frozen salmon too, FINALLY found one without any additives or crap that I can't have on it. It's so delicious and I immediately felt more balanced after eating it. I'm eating less beef and more salmon from now on.

I do think flax is good too, though. The thing with the oil is, you're paying so much more money than you would just buying whole seeds and soaking and grinding them yourself. But if you find you react better to the oil, it's worth it I'd say. I find that I get less of the hormone changing effects of flax if I make a batch, eat it for a few days, then move on to fish to get my omega 3s. When I was loading up on ground flax (like 4-5 spoonfuls a day) it was messing with my hormones too.

Edited by dejaclairevoyant, 15 August 2012 - 06:47 PM.

[Oner]

so no improvement in acne yet?

also flax is incredibly high in phytoestrogens, i think one of the highest foods.

which is probably why it breaks me out so much
plus since its a plant source, the omegas are absorbed at a much less rate than animal sources.

i would trying avoiding it for around a week or more and see if your skin condition improves

[AcneIsACurse]

I haven't seen much difference, maybe it takes longer to see the difference? Idk I heard that omega 3 and omega 6 are highly unstable which is why flax oil must be in the refrigerator, these canned sardines are just sitting in my cupboard so maybe the omega 3 is not active or something like that? If I were to get the 3 oils I would make sure that all 3 of them were in the refrigerator, maybe the oils would work better if I wasn't intolerant to flax idk.

[Oner]

damn, that would be a huge blow to my regimen if canned salmon didn't actually have omega 3's because it isn't refrigerated.
but then there is this....

http://paleohacks.co...d#axzz23go3wlGJ