April, I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that if you grind them up and add them to things you are baking and such, you will not notice the taste and they are good fiber. They are also supposed to lower cholesterol, but my limited understanding of it is that heat destroys certain elements of that. I may be wrong though.

Yes, you can feed it to your birds. It's a common ingredient in bird seed mixes for indoor birds, too.

You could also try planting some of them and have some beautiful blue flowers in late spring/early summer. Then leave the seed heads for the birds to eat.

BN

Flax seed is very high in magnesium, zinc, iron, vitamin E, carotene, B-group vitamins, calcium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, silicon, copper, nickel, molybdenum, chromium, and cobalt. Also, Omegas 3 and 6, as well as lignans that enhance the immune system. I used to feed it to all my pregnant and nursing mother hammies so mom AND babies could reap the benefits of the tiny grain. It has cancer prevention properties and as well, research suggests that it aids in the eye developement of fetal and newborn babies. In a pinch (when I was out of bird feeder seed) I would feed my home made hammy food to the birds and they didn't seem to mind the flax at all.

Any hammy owners out there? If you are, check out my home made hamster feed recipe. I buy all the ingredients at Bulk Barn and when hubby and I calculated it out, you save over 50% of the cost over the highest priced commercial brand seed mix and don't get all the crap seeds like corn and millet. Here's my link:

Barb's Home made Hamster Seed Mix

LMAO "I try not to eat healthy". I realize this is very old, but I just had to say, you're very smart. Flaxseeds are garbage. And actually, even the birds will pass on them.

They're full of antinutrients, and anything "good in them wouldn't be converted sufficiently enough by your body to do any good. Plants don't want you to destroy their seeds. They have defenses to keep seeds intact in the digestive tract, and to make you sick if you do chew them up. I avoid seeds as much as possible.

"Superfoods' are a marketing gimmick. They can make anything profitable by calling it that