Linseed oil, boiled over raw?

[Fasttrack]

there are some on-line alarmist sites that say to be careful with it because it contains arsenic - all i can say is iv ate it by the bucketfull for the past dozen years and no symptoms of accumulative arsenic poisoning...

Not to nitpick, but that's the kind of faulty logic you normally argue against, Boomer. That's like the guy that says "I've smoked a pack a day for years and I'm healthy as an ox".

I don't know about aresenic, but flax seeds are among a broad group of plants that are cyanogenic. Eating large quantities raw could result in health problems, not least of which is cyanide poising. But, with most things, the answer is moderation and a balanced diet. Although it doesn't address cyanide specifically, this seems to be a relatively unbiased and reliable report on flax seed: https://flaxcouncil.ca/resources/nut...t-use-of-flax/

[A.K. Boomer]

FT maybe the stuff effect ones memory - lol I seriously thought arsenic was the concern but it appears it's cyanide,

oh well at least i had it linked with another poison that could kill you,

I agree don't go too overboard, I actually have in the past with no real side effects but have tapered things down some,
technically there's legitimate "worry" in just about anything you eat - potatoes create a proven cancer causing ingredient when cooked, lots of good healthy vegetables can contain trace amounts of certain toxins or poisons or interfere with proper enzyme productions or on and on...
but good point "most" everything in moderation and some not at all - like trans fats --- not a damn thing good about them,
and you might want to stay away from eating totally blackened charred food - not a good idea there either...

[A.K. Boomer]

FWIW there's all kinds of things to consider when making decisions about your health and id just like to throw some perspective into the mix, there are certain tribes that are still in existence and have been studied that eat as much as 10 times the dietary fiber that the average american does, and things like high blood pressure and colon cancer amongst dozens of other common ailments including chronic inflammation are non-existent and largely attributed to the massive amounts of fiber, in comparison to us who on the average fall way short of even the USRDA recommendation - which is way low to begin with,

and yeah not having an office job and getting some exercise probably helps them allot too lol

So again FWIW if your considering adding more fiber to your diet there are all kinds of foods that can help - oats for example, medically proven to do good things for your heart/blood pressure/cholesterol levels and all the above due to increasing your fiber levels and
all the bennies that go with it, but here's a little fun fact about oats, while just 4oz. contain 20% of the USRDA of dietary fiber, which is not too shabby, ----------------- when you compare them to flax they look like a slouch, just 1oz of ground flax contains almost twice that at 35% that's incredible and like i say the oils and the fact that the fractured shell has some of that serious stuff that grandma used to call "roughage" makes it even more amazing.

I do mix mine with oats, and between the two of them I almost got the entire USRDA of fiber covered just in breakfast alone... the rest of the day is just a bonus.

So yeah weigh it all out - against the proven tens of millions suffering from all kinds of ailments due to not getting enough of a pretty inert but very important ingredient,

or all the ones dropping dead from cyanide poisoning who have been using flax for centuries - I really don't have any examples although im sure if you search you may find some guy who ingested 10 lb's of it in a single sitting which would be impossible to begin with and more likely would die from blowing up his gut when it all expanded,

maybe it's good that it's not arsenic cuz my understanding is that it's accumulative - and cyanide either gets the job done or you move on with your life lol

just a little food for thought, everything in moderation - except for fiber - then you got to kind of take a more proactive approach...

[redgrouse]

From : -

Machine
Senior Member
Not sure of the right answer. But one little gotcha with boiled linseed oil is that it can cause rags to catch fire. It gives off heat as it dries in air (apparently). And under the right circumstances it can combust. Search it on YouTube and you'll see videos of it. I was surprised about it because I have some in my household. So watch out for that.

Yes the same mixed with sawdust ! often used to mop up a spill which is fine but make sure its moved to a safe location outside any buildings , actually it makes little difference raw or boiled same resultant danger.

[A.K. Boomer]

it does make sense that if the boiled dries faster than the raw then the boiled is the one you really have to watch out for,

I would not take a chance either way though, it wet leaves can take off on their own a oil soaked rag of linseed oil can too boiled or not...