This note is about feeding flax seeds to birds, and humans.
TLDR: Flax seeds are nutritious. They also have anti-nutrients, which are not necessarily bad. They also exhibit toxic activity, as well as medicinal activity. They increase the brain size of chicks. They increase enzyme activity in the digestive tract of poultry. They improve resilience against certain microbes in poultry. They improve certain egg quality parameters.
It goes on . . . So let's get into it.
Flax seeds are very impressive and interesting seeds. They are typically 20% α-linolenic acid—which is the plant omega 3 fatty acid. They are thus also appropriately known as linseeds. This fatty acid profile is the primary reason for including flax seeds in the feed. I have gone into a bit of detail about omega 3s in the fish note which I will put at the end of this note.
So, let's talk about other things regarding flax:
Flax seeds are 18.3% protein, 42.2% fat, and 28.9% carbohydrate (27.3% fibre).
They exhibit decent concentrations of vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6, B9, and folate, as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, and selenium.
The following article by Kajla et al. (2014) called "Flaxseed—a potential functional food source" gets into some nitty gritty about flax seeds. They also present excellent discussion about omega 3:6 and inflammation.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4375225/
These authors get into great detail about secoisolariciresinol diglycoside, which is the major lignan in flax seeds. It is a phytooestrogen. I produced a note that touches on phytochemicals and links to an article that gets into some nuance about phytooestrogens. I will leave that note at the end of this note, after the fish note.
Essentially, secoisolariciresinol diglycoside is a therapeutic compound that is disease preventative (neurological, lung, cardiovascular, diabetes, etc.) as well as anti-cancer. These effects are all probably downstream of its capacity to scavenge free radicals.
As was touched on in the phytochemical note and the article it links, and the above article, phytic acid is an interesting compound in flax seeds. It is one of the compounds we discussed as an anti-nutrient in the lentils and peas note, which is also linked at the bottom of this note. Phytic acid forms metal complexes, which from an anti-nutrient perspective sequester copper, zinc, iron, and magnesium away from utilisation . . . However, it is not necessarily that simple. There are many factors involved, and phytic acid might instead be thought of as a regulator of these metals, although this is also a simplification.
Here is an article that goes into depth about this:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7539747/
Evidently, it is not all great stuff with flax seeds. There are other weird things like linatine which pertains to B6 deficiency in higher doses, and cyanogenic glycosides, which can produce thiocyanates which relate to iodine deficincy . . .
Further, a TLDR of a portion of the below article which is citing other articles relating to cyanogenic glycosides:
100g flax seeds = 21mg hydrogen cyanide.
The tolerable toxic level for humans = 30–100mg per day.
Recommended daily allowance for humans = 1–2 tablespoons of flax seeds.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361997742_A_comprehensive_review_of_flaxseed_Linum_usitatissimum_L_health-affecting_compounds_mechanism_of_toxicity_detoxification_anticancer_and_potential_risk
Perhaps (. . .) whole flax seeds are not worth the trouble and deploying flax seed oil instead might be prudent—for humans, and for birds. Oil extraction here might be thought of as similarly utile processing to decorticating lentils and peas to avoid large concentrations of phytic acid . . .
So, how do flax seeds perform on the ground/in the feeder? Let us squiz some papers:
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/9/1402
—> In conclusion, up to 12% of soaked flax seed meal in Rhode Islad Red hens’ diets had no adverse effects on the productive and reproductive performances; at the same time, they improved the yolk color, plasma lipid profiles, yolk lipid profiles, and immune parameters.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2024.1400611/full
—> "We showed that feeding flaxseed to mothers increased the brain size in broiler offspring and altered brain FA composition in layer offspring."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751731123000617
—> A combination of flax seed and hemp seed resulted in highest enzyme activity in the digestive tract of chickens, and their growth performance corroborated this enzymatic activity.
This is exciting to me as I have been slipping (closed source until now) 10g of hemp seeds into the feed and cutting the coconut oil by 5g as I have a tub of hemp seeds that need to be eaten!
Before getting completely carried away, let us finish this pseudowayward note by extending the nuance on the whole flax seeds vs. flax oil/nutrient vs. anti-nutrient stuff.
Below is an article that discusses the deployment of defatted flaxseed meal (the stuff we might throw away if we were to just use flax seed oil) in chickens: "Research indicates that whole flaxseed increases adaptive immune capacity by augmenting cecal Bacteroides and short-chain fatty acids while also attenuating the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio in chickens. Moreover, flaxseed accelerates chicken recovery from infection with Salmonella Enteritidis or Eimeria tenella; however, future work is needed to better understand (i) defatted flaxseed’s superior performance against Eimeria species and (ii) Eimeria maxima’s resilience against whole flaxseed. In the context of vitamin B6 antagonism, we propose that 15% whole flaxseed overcomes S. enterica’s insult to estrogen synthesis by sustaining the activity of phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase (PEMT) in liver. We also propose that 10% defatted flaxseed (as a metformin homologue) strengthens chicken immunity by safeguarding gonadal physiology and by increasing plasma thymidine bioavailability."
Hilarious.
https://www.mdpi.com/1467-3045/46/11/732
#health #homestead #food #flax #eggprogramming #toxins #nutrients
Welcome to another episode of egg programming.
This note is about feeding fish to poultry.
Two vital components of fish are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
These are the notorious marine omega 3s.
Up until this point we have been talking about the plant omega 3: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
We have been deploying flax seeds to balance ALA with omega 6 fatty acids; and we have been doing this because humans do well when this is balanced.
Here is an image of the chemistry of these fats:
The different elongation pathways for these fatty acids compete to use the same desaturase enzymes, as you can see here:
You will notice arachadonic acid on the omega 6 side. This is the precursor to inflammatory eicosanoids, which are vital for lots of things. However, we do not want them around in excess.
To grug it out a bit: we want inflammation to be well managed, and this is why we balance the omega 3:6.
You might say that another purpose is to make more EPA and DHA from ALA, and this is true. However, those elongations are inefficient processes. But, conveniently, we can utilise other creatures to access more EPA and DHA.
Birds are more efficient than humans at converting ALA to EPA and DHA, so we are kicking goals just eating eggs from birds who eat ALA.
However, we can do better than that.
We can eat fish, and we can also feed fish to our legendary egg producers!
Al-Daraji et al.'s (2010) study "Effect of dietary supplementation with different oils on productive and reproductive performance of quail" found that fish oil at 3℅ of the feed produced the best results in regard to egg weight, hen-day egg production, egg mass, cumulative egg production, feed conversion ratio, fertility, hatchability of eggs set, hatchability of fertile eggs, and embryonic livability—followed by the results of flax oil. The lowest values for these traits was recorded for corn oil and sunflower oil—neither of which (oil nor whole) feature in this egg program.
A more recent review by Alagawany et al. (2019) titled "Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids in Poultry Nutrition: Effect on Production Performance and Health" fleshes-out the nuance here and, more specifically to this note, teases apart the differences between fish and flax:
https://image.nostr.build/4ec6eb46526c94013e6a7f35b3b5e5b257ce6a8f6e6f5165033a51b97d53c8f9.
This image was taked from their Table 1 which is a good TLDR on supplements and results.
Here is the article:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6721126/
This egg program features dehydrated pilchards. Why? They are high quality and cheap. Lots of fish meal you might find for poultry has had the oil extracted from it at at least 100°C/212°F, so it is really only useful for protein—not so much for less stable micronutrients and certainly not for omega 3s.
I get the pilchards in frozen block form. These are bait for fishing and the fish look healthy: it seems like they have been frozen on the boat that they were caught from.
Dehydrating the pilchards is a smelly affair: the whole homestead will smell like 1000 piers. But, it will be worth it.
It is exciting to see bones, scales, offal, and oily flesh, making their way into the mix.
It is lovely rich stuff.
I keep the dehydrated pilchard meal in the fridge: there are lots of goodies in there that we want to preserve.
Fish hey . . .
Consider sending some at your birds.
#bird #egg #food #nutrition #science #fish
#health #longevity #farm
#homesteading #eggprogramming thread:
nevent1q…288c
This is a great article about phytochemicals like phytooestrogens, oxalates, phytates, and tannins.
Some of these you might know as anti-nutrients.
The authors detail pros and cons and summarise each compound.
I found it particularly interesting to encounter phytates as being useful in the regulation of iron and what the positive externalities of that can be—like protecting the colon from iron-induced lipid peroxidation and decreasing the production of advanced glycation end products.
It was also cool to read about the nuance in the phytooestrogen literature.
The article is called "Is There Such a Thing as "Anti-Nutrients"? A Narrative Review of Perceived Problematic Plant Compounds".
It is by Petroski & Minich and you can find it here:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7600777/#B216-nutrients-12-02929
Here is also a separate note about advanced glycation end products:
nevent1q…m789
#plants #nutrients #food #nutrition #science
This is a great article about phytochemicals like phytooestrogens, oxalates, phytates, and tannins.
Some of these you might know as anti-nutrients.
The authors detail pros and cons and summarise each compound.
I found it particularly interesting to encounter phytates as being useful in the regulation of iron and what the positive externalities of that can be—like protecting the colon from iron-induced lipid peroxidation and decreasing the production of advanced glycation end products.
It was also cool to read about the nuance in the phytooestrogen literature.
The article is called "Is There Such a Thing as "Anti-Nutrients"? A Narrative Review of Perceived Problematic Plant Compounds".
It is by Petroski & Minich and you can find it here:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7600777/#B216-nutrients-12-02929
Here is also a separate note about advanced glycation end products:
nevent1q…m789
#plants #nutrients #food #nutrition #science