I found this site that has excellent Flax Seed if you like to cook and eat it

www.gvflax.biz

David wrote:

> I found this site that has excellent Flax Seed if you like to cook and eat it

A recent book by Udo Erasmus suggests that the ideal source
of dietary fats is fresh, raw, cold-pressed flaxseed oil.
Whether or not this is good advice may be indicated by the
following quotes from a USDA publication.

Note that it describes a reaction which involves the immune
system. I don't know about you, but I prefer not to subject
my immune system to unnecessary stress.

Of all food animals, the pig is most similar to a human.
Like humans it is by nature an omnivore, unlike cattle,
goats, and sheep which are herbivores. The USDA publication
_Atlas_of_Meat_Inspection_Pathology_ (USDA, 1972) is a
guide for meat inspectors, not human nutrition. But here
are some interesting comments on the effects of flaxseed
consumption on pigs, quoting from pages 165-167:

"Steatitis ('Yellow Fat' Disease) in Swine"

"Definition.--Steatitus ('yellow fat' disease) in swine
is a yellow pigmentation of adipose tissue associated
with the use of fish products and flaxseed as feed."

"Distribution and incidence.--Steatitus usually occurs
near fisheries where cannery wastes are fed to swine.
The disease is also found on fur ranches where the remains
of mink feed containing fish products are consumed by pigs.
The use of feed containing other substances possessing
highly unsaturated fatty acids, such as flaxseed, will also
produce the disease."

"Feeding swine rations containing excessive amounts of
highly unsaturated fatty acids and inadequate quantities of
tocopherols causes porcine adipose tissue to contain a
yellow, acid-fast pigment. The pigment consists of fat
soluble and fat insoluble fractions and the latter possesses
acid-fast staining characteristics. Fat cells can
incorporate and stabilize unsaturated fatty acids as
'storage fat' if vitamin E, an antioxidant, is added to a
ration rich in unsaturated fatty acids."

"The fat of affected swine has an odor of fish that can
be accentuated by heating the tissue. Swine having steatitus
tend to be thin and in poor physical condition."

"Macroscopic appearance.--Subcutaneous and mesenteric
fat, in particular, show the alterations characteristic
of this dietary disease. Affected fat is slightly
opaque and firmer than normal and varies from bright yellow
to yellowish brown."

"Microscopic appearance.--Foreign fat globules, some
of which contain an acid-fast pigment, are deposited in
the interstices of the adipose tissue. This deposition
appears as fine droplets or, quite frequently, as larger
discrete globules in groups or islets of variable size.
At time the globules have a pericapillary and periarteriole
location. Adipose cell tissues themselves are usually not
affected. Occasionally, foreign fat globules are seen
within adipose cells and their presence is interpreted to
represent a permeation into the normal storage fat
rather than a disturbed metabolic process. Foci of
inflammation composed of collections of macrophages,
neutrophils, eosinophils, and an occasional foreign-body
giant cell may be present between the adipose cells. These
macrophages and giant cells contain droplets of yellow fat.
This inflammatory reaction is the basis for applying the
name 'steatitus' to the condition."