Research
Hormonal
Daily consumption of 40g ground flaxseed significantly reduces HDL cholesterol in men, but has no effect on HDL in women.
If you are a man, be aware that 40g of daily flaxseed may lower your HDL ('good') cholesterol by up to 16%. Women do not experience this effect. Discuss this with your doctor if you rely on HDL for cardiovascular risk assessment.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
In men, flaxseed reduced HDL-C concentrations by a net of 16% (p < 0.03) and 9% (p < 0.05) at 5 and 10 weeks, respectively.
Why this rating
RCT design, clear gender stratification and statistical significance.
Source
Flaxseed and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: Results from a Double Blind, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial
LeAnne T. Bloedon et al. · Journal of the American College of Nutrition · 2008
DOI 10.1080/07315724.2008.10719676
rct · n=62Cited 258×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Daily consumption of 40g ground flaxseed significantly reduces LDL cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic adults, but this effect is transient and diminishes by 10 weeks.Good
- Daily consumption of 40g ground flaxseed significantly reduces Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and improves insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR) in hypercholesterolemic adults.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →