# flax oil and olive oil



## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

Has anyone had any success in treating their constipation with flax oil and olive oil? Just wondering as both are supposed to be good for keeping you regular. I couldn't stomach the flax oil and had a bit of a reaction to it anyway so am thinking of trying olive oil - any comments would be great to hear how anyone did trying this?


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

janetmtt said:


> Just wondering as both are supposed to be good for keeping you regular.


There is nothing special that I am aware of about these oils that could impact constipation.


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## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

Hi FluxIf you read about olive oil and flax on the internet they say it is supposed to help keep you regular. I'm giving the OO a go and will let you know how it goes. Flax I couldn't stomach plus OO you can use in cooking or drizzle over your food.


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## 16789 (Mar 26, 2007)

Oils like these provide lubrication in your stool. That can help with constipation, it even works if you just cook with it.A really awesome thing I just discovered was cutting up a potato, marinate them in olive oil and bake them, they taste just like french fries (which I can't handle because they are too fatty), but these taste amazingly like french fries and have the olive oil and carbs. mmmm.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

ThatchickAli said:


> Oils like these provide lubrication in your stool. That can help with constipation, it even works if you just c


These oils, which are _foods oils_, do not do this because they never come in contact with stool. They are absorbed in the small intestine. You are thinking of a mineral oil, which is non-edible oil. That type oil is a _petroleum-based oil_ and cannot be absorbed, so it does come in contact with stool would provide that effect.


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## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

HiWell I sauted salmon in it the other day and splashed some on tomatoes on Sunday and I must admit on Monday I felt I was going regularly. Would you know though if olive oil can give you stomach cramps/wind because after I'd had it on Sunday immediately after I had pains in my stomach. However I'm going to give it a go mixing it with orange juice.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Flux, a couple of random thoughts and I was wondering if this made any sense.Quite a few people do report olive or other oils helping, but I agree that they are absorbed so not helping directly.I was thinking that bile that gets into the colon does tend to loosen stools (bile salt diarrhea as the extreme of this). Could the fat content when people add oil to meals (assuming they do change the total %) change the amount of residual bile in the stool? Alternatively a fatty meal can cause a bigger gastrocolic reflex than a lean one. Could that play a role in food oils helping ease constipation?K.


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## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

So what's the difference between mineral and petroleum based oils? If OO is a petroleum based oil is it not good that you absorb it because they say it is good for you and surely the amount you take if you cut out some other fats in the diet must be good for you and making you go to the toilet for a bowel movement?Can someone explain please as I'm a bit lost!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Chemically mineral oil (from petroleum) is very different in structure from food oils.Think of a lock and a key. Our bowels have "locks" in them to grab specific "keys" from the food. Mineral oil has a structure that doesn't fit in the "locks" we have for absorbing oil/fats from food.If you feed someone a very high fat diet (of food fats) and measure the fat left in the stool it is normal for there to be almost none in the stool. We absorb food fats very efficiently. Other things we don't. It depends how many "locks" you have to grab the "key". Some things we have a lot of "locks" so we absorb it all, like fat. Some things, like iron, we only have a limited number of "locks" so if you take a lot of iron you will find a lot of it in the stool.Something that never gets into the stool cannot be directly changing the stool. It is not there. Olive oil coming from olives is the same structure as other oils from plants. Mineral oil is more like the oil you put in your car structrually.K.


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## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

So is OO safer and better to take than a mineral oil like liquid paraffin?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Olive oil is safer.


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## janetmtt (May 28, 2007)

Thanks Kath and it does work so you have a bowel movement and at my age 51 it oils the joints too!


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

quote]Quite a few people do report olive or other oils helping, but I agree that they are absorbed so not helping directly.[/quote]Well, the first thing I think about is who are the people reporting it? Do they really have slow-transit? Only half the people with IBS-C have that. The rest seem to have normal transit. It could be they are the ones reporting the improvement, not the others. Also, we don't know how are what they are reporting compares to say a placebo (pseudo-oil?). Conditions fluctuate and people may just remember it best when they've taken olive oil and their symptoms just happened to improve. In other words, they're just anecdotes and only a formal study could establish some unexpected benefit. I am skeptical it makes much difference, at least for those people who are really constipated with slow-transit.


> I was thinking that bile that gets into the colon does tend to loosen stools (bile salt diarrhea as the extreme of this). Could the fat content when people add oil to meals (assuming they do change the total %) change the amount of residual bile in the stool? Alternatively a fatty meal can cause a bigger gastrocolic reflex than a lean one. Could that play a role in food oils helping ease constipation?


If it were the case that somehow olive oil made a difference, then I don't know how it would work. This is an interesting thought, but I don't think it could explain the difference because the volumes are way too small. Presumably, these people don't have a problem with bile acid absorption as is, so to gain this effect would require overpowering the absorptive mechanism to such a degree that it results in a condition like that of bile acid malabsorption. And remember that that condition itself is giving diarrhea to people who are starting out without a constipation problem. I think perphaps the effect could be achieved if they consumed a serious amount of olive oil--half a bottle--_and[/] they were somehow endowed with bile acid malabsorption. I'm assuming, of course, they really are consitpated. I think in people who have slow-transit, the gastrocolic reflex is probably often subdued. My guess if there is an effect it is simply that the people who are being affected may have IBS-C with normal transit and the difference is largely perceptual and it wouldn't affect people who really have slow-transit._


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I use it in cooking but I don't notice much difference (I tend to the loose side to start with).Some people seem to have luck with it, and it is an oil that is good for heart health, etc.K.


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