Flax Oil Rancid?

How can I tell when bottled flax oil is rancid?

You cann’t necessarily tell until it gets really, really bad. Keep it refrigerated and use it up within a month of opening and you won’t have a problem.

You shouldn’t be buying flax oil at all. You aren’t getting the best bang for your buck bro. Fresh Flax seeds should be ground and eaten over oats or something. I actually sell the golden flax at a considerable discount than what you can find as I grow it. Golden flax has considerably more essential fats as brown flax

If it’s really bad, it has a strong flat taste. It just tastes wrong. But it can be oxidized well before that. Buy the smallest bottles you can. It also freezes well.

i usually keep flax oil in the fridge, but the bottle does say “store in a cool, dry place”.which one bottle said that, then the next bottle i bought, from the exact same company said “for optimal freshness, store in the referigerator”… which leads me to believe it will be good at room temperature for awile. it takes be about 8 days to down a whole bottle of flax anyway…i have to keep it in my desk drawer since people at work laughed at me for drinking “oil” from our work’s refridgerator, now i have to hide that too for people that don’t know…my filing cabinet looks like a mini GNC…

Bump… I would really like to know people’s thoughts on storage of flax, along with dosing. This supplement hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves. Flax is the next best thing to Biotest.

You must store flax oil in the fridge. It is the most unstable oil that I’m aware of and will oxidize very easily. For dosing, this is a very individual question and depends on several factors. I usually get 5g EPA/DHA as a base from fish oil and take 2 Tbls flax oil a day. I also usually eat a few golden eggs which also has omega-3’s and DHA in them.

Burton had a good point. Flax seeds are cheaper, all you have do do is grind them and then add them to you oatmeal or your shakes and stuff like that . You could also toast them in the oven before grinding to bring out their flavor.

Though I agree on eating flax seed and eat flax seed every day, I’ve always been under the understanding that omega 3 oils in flax seed are very fragile and easily damaged by heat and don’t think I’d recommend heating or toasting them before grinding. I just grind up about 1 weeks worth in the blender (blender works well) and store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer after grinding. Realize that after grinding, the oil in the seeds is exposed to oxygen so to keep fresh, need to store in air tight bag in either fridge or freezer and not grind more than can use in week or 2. I mix them in cottage cheese, tuna, shakes, and oatmeal (after cooking of course) or can sprinkle on salads or greens, etc.

Interesting, I will have to research it a little more. i found some recipes for breads and muffins, but if it destroys the oils then their are worthless. I use a coffee grinder for grinding, you get a really fine powder.