Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) oil processing and selected products

• Review of the status of flaxseed processing for nutraceutical applications and industrial oil production.
• Summary of the recent findings of the effects of flaxseed product consumption.
• Summary of the commercial products of flaxseed meal or hull extracts.

Flaxseed may be consumed directly as milled seed or crushed to produce familiar products including flaxseed oil and defatted flaxseed meal. However, processes that generate these fractions may play an important role in their biological activity if processes denature, enrich or deplete active ingredients present. A traditional crushing process is used in China while “cold pressing” is commonly used for production of food products. Most flaxseed products arise from these processes. In this review, we report on common and newly introduced processes for crushing and fractionating flaxseed and information on the impact of processing on bioactive ingredients. In addition, we describe some of the diversity of flaxseed containing industrial food and cosmetic product offerings found in several marketplaces.