By Micheal Thomas 

Flaxseed and flaxseed oil, because they are the richest vegetable source in omega 3 essential fatty acids, have been recommended by medics and nutritionists for a while now. The omega 3 fats are known to protect the heart, the brain, to ameliorate inflammatory medical conditions and to protect the body from cancerous tumor development. Because the body cannot produce these essential fatty acids naturally, we must ad them through diet or supplements.

Recent studies have shown that the omega 3 fats found in flaxseed can be extremely useful in decreasing hot flashes in postmenopausal women who do not take estrogen.

A hot flash is described as a flush of intense warmth across much of the body that may be accompanied by sweating, reddening of the skin, or, occasionally, cold shivers. Hot flashes occur in varying frequency and duration, even during sleep, and often cause or accompany sleep deprivation, anxiety and irritability.

These symptoms appear more frequent in women passing through menopause. Medics say that this condition is curable with the help of hormonal drugs, but recent findings on omega 3 fatty acids' action made them believe these essential fats are a very viable alternative to the drugs prescribed in present.

Scientists have studied a variety of herbal and dietary supplements in randomized, placebo-controlled trials, including vitamin E and soy, but none has shown to produce any significant reduction in frequency or severity of hot flashes compared to flaxseed.

The test was conducted for a span of 6 weeks and the data collected was enough for them to analyze the effect of all these substances. At the end of the survey, participants were asked questions that the researchers translated into a hot flash score -- a combined measure of frequency and severity. . The frequency of hot flashes decreased 50 percent over six weeks, and the overall hot flash score decreased an average 57 percent for the women who had taken flaxseed.

The women who took part in the testing also reported improvements in mood, joint or muscle pain, chills and sweating.

Flaxseed contains ligans and omega 3 fatty acids. Lignans are antioxidants with weak estrogen-emulating characteristics, and have some anti-cancer effects.

The survey also wanted to find out the effectiveness of flaxseed in alleviating hot flashes and identify possible side effects. Results are only preliminary, as this was the first test of its kind, but medics are positive that the omega 3 fatty acids extracted by the body from flaxseed can prove very efficient in ameliorating the symptoms of hot flashes in women.