The flax plant is a small, single-stemmed annual that grows to about 2 ft (0.6 .n) tall and has grayish green leaves and sky-blue flowers. Historlcally, flax has been cultivated for thousands. of years. flaxseed typically contains 40% fat. De-fatted (hexane-extract~d) flax ~eed comprising: 46% by wt. fiber (both water-soluble fiber or-mucilage,- acidic heterogeneous polysaccharidef. that contain galacturonic acid. galacto.se. rhamno~e, and xylose, comprising 30-40% of the total fiber present, and water-insoluble fiber, which comprises 60-70% of the totalliber present): 10% total other carbohydrates. including lignans: 35% by wt. protein; 6-7% ash. Linseed mucilage.which composes about 8% of the seed, comprises a mixture of polysaccharides such as rhamanose, fucose, arabinozylans, zylose. galactose, galacturonic acid. and glucose. Arabinozylans have been shown to increase intestinal viscosity, which decreases nutrient availability by increasing passage rate, reducing rates of diffusion of endogenous enzymes and nutritional subslrates. or both. The objective of this study was to determinc the physicochemical and chemical characteristics of flaxseed. In this study. Iranian and Canadian flaxseed was analyzed for determining chemical characteristics. Chemical characteristics of Iranian flaxseed are % 23 and % 34, for crude protein and ether extract, respectively. Fatty acids Profiles of flaxseed is shown in table I. The results of this experiment demonstrated that flaxseed oil is the best oil for human nutrition. There is no significantdifference between Iranian and Canadian variety.

Keywords