Flax seed oil cold-pressed below 96° Fahrenheit occupies a specific and limited role in the Primal Diet. It is one of only two oils, the other being olive oil, that Aajonus identified as capable of being truly cold-pressed without solvent extraction, making it a legitimate, if cautiously used, dietary tool. It is not a food in the nutrient-building sense. It is not an animal fat. It does not lubricate, stabilize, calm, strengthen, or build tissue the way animal fats do. Its primary physiological function, as Aajonus repeatedly framed it, is solvent-reactive: approximately 90% of the way the body utilizes it is as a cleansing agent, a soap-like substance that dissolves dead cells, toxins, adhesions, plaque, and congestion. Because of this powerful solvent activity, it must be treated with the same respect as a medicine, not consumed freely as a staple fat, and always accompanied by animal fats to prevent the dissolved toxins from recirculating through the system unchecked.

Flax oil is distinguished from other pressed seed oils by two specific attributes Aajonus cited repeatedly: its anti-carcinogenic properties and its particular suitability for people dealing with cancer cells, nerve tissue damage, liver and kidney hardening, cirrhosis, and heart weakness. Despite these properties, even in those therapeutic contexts, it remains a solvent, a specialized tool, not a foundation food.

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Aajonus taught that all pressed oils, including flax oil, are approximately 90% solvent-reactive in the body. That means when flax oil enters the body, the body does not predominantly use it to build tissue, lubricate joints, feed the nervous system, or calm and stabilize cells. Instead, it converts the overwhelming majority of it into soap-like solvents that dissolve internal compounds, toxins, dead cells, scar tissue, arterial plaque, adhesions, lymphatic congestion, benign and malignant tumors, and other accumulated debris.

Aajonus stated this explicitly and repeatedly: "Pressed oils are beneficial in dissolving internal adhesions (scars) and dead cells, including benign or malignant tumors, and arterial and lymphatic congestion and plaque." He also said: "90% olive oil flax oil any of those pressed oils, those are the only two that you can get truly cold pressed... they are mainly used as cleansers to dissolve toxins."

This solvent action is not gentle. Aajonus compared it to industrial degreasing: "If you have olive oil, flax oil, without another fat, guess what's going to happen? When that oil goes in there and is made into a solvent to start dissolving the body, you're not going to have any good fats to bind with those to keep it from being caustic in your system. So it's like taking a solvent and you use a pure solvent to degrease something and you have no water to dilute it. What's going to happen? You're going to have this gunky mess. It's going to be floating around in your blood."

He further described flax oil as "very sharp," like "putting broken glass in your system" and "shards of glass," making clear that while useful in specific therapeutic contexts, it has a genuinely caustic character that demands respect and buffering.

Aajonus stated the body uses flax oil to help prevent cancer cells from forming. He tied this specifically to the oil's ability to dissolve dead cells: "It's only anti-carcinogenic because flax oil can help you dissolve dead cells." This is not a nutrient-based anti-cancer effect in the conventional sense, it is a solvent-based one. The dissolving of dead cellular matter is what removes the preconditions in which cancer cells proliferate.

Aajonus listed healing nerve tissue as a specific virtue of flax oil. He did not elaborate on the mechanism in the available passages, but placed it alongside cancer prevention, liver/kidney softening, cirrhosis reversal, and heart strengthening as distinct documented applications.

The body uses flax oil to soften the liver and kidneys. This is again a solvent-dissolution action, the oil breaks down hardened, congested, or scarred tissue in these organs and facilitates its removal from the body.

Aajonus specifically cited cirrhosis reversal as a documented use of flax oil within the body's own application of the oil's solvent properties.

He stated flax oil "substantially strengthen[s] the heart," though again the mechanism is likely tied to its ability to dissolve arterial plaque, vascular adhesions, and dead cellular buildup around and within the heart and its vasculature.

In the context of early training materials, Aajonus noted: "The flax oil is to provide an oil which has the properties to be able to prevent pathogens from growing, manifesting, and flax oil is pretty good for that. It also acts, because it's from a seed, like all seeds, they have that property which prevents reproduction. And the body knows where to use it and when not to use it. If it's a healthy, sound body, the body will take this and then start presenting it in a serum to certain proliferating or possibly proliferating bacteria that have grown in the system." He also confirmed: "Anti-fungal too? Yes."

One of the most important cautions Aajonus gave about flax oil is its drying effect. Because the body converts it primarily into solvents, those solvents will dehydrate glands, dry skin, hair, and nails if consumed without adequate animal fat. He pointed to historical confirmation: a World War I Russian general wrote in his journal that within three months of substituting olive oil (and by extension pressed oils) for raw dairy, his soldiers' hair, nails, and skin dried out completely. When raw dairy was reintroduced, the men's hair, nails, and skin became supple and moist within weeks.

Aajonus applied this directly to people who are already dry: "People who are dry, I say to completely stay away from pressed oils until the glands are hydrated."

Aajonus made a statement that pressed oils, including flax oil, can be used by the body to help make viruses: "When you have a pressed oil, flax oil, olive oil, the body mainly uses it as a solvent, as an oil to dissolve substances, to help make viruses, to help make any kind of soap substance which will dissolve toxicity in the body." This is presented not as a negative per se, in his framework viruses are solvents produced by the body to cleanse, but it underscores that flax oil is a catalytic, cleansing agent, not a stabilizing food.

Unlike animal fats, flax oil does not easily convert to cellular fuel. "Flax and olive oil [are] not a good easy oil to digest even to make fuel or cleansing from it. So it still will be cleansing but it's still very hard to digest."

Because the body can only handle approximately one tablespoon of pressed oil per day in terms of processing capacity, Aajonus explained that if a person consumes four tablespoons of olive oil or flax oil in a single meal, it will take the body approximately four days to process it: "It's going to take you four days to get that out of the system, to utilize it, to make it into solvents, to clean the body, and to process it."

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Aajonus established 96° Fahrenheit as the critical temperature threshold for all pressed oils: "The virtues diminish if heated above 96° Fahrenheit." He made clear that when fat is heated over 96°F, "that's when you start altering the molecular structure so that it will start hardening in your body similar to a vegetable oil, vegetable fat."

He stated: "The cold-pressed flax seed oil that I have been using has been pressed below 96° Fahrenheit. I do not know if its virtues would increase if it were pressed at temperatures below 96° Fahrenheit. I do know that the virtues diminish if heated above 96° Fahrenheit."

Oils pressed above 96°F and below 118°F occupy an intermediate zone, not as dangerous as fully processed vegetable oils, but no longer retaining their full virtues. Oils processed above 96°F begin to harden in the body and can contribute to arteriosclerosis, aneurysms, cracking, dryness, and heart attacks.

A specific inquiry was made to Aajonus about Flora's flaxseed oil, which was listed on his approved products guide as pressed at or under 90°F, but which turned out to be pressed at 98°F. Aajonus responded clearly: "98 degrees F. for flax oil is okay, but not for olive, peanut or coconut oils." This is a critical distinction, flax oil at 98°F is acceptable in Aajonus's view, whereas the same 98°F temperature would disqualify olive oil, peanut oil, or coconut oil. This tolerance is specific to flax seed oil.

Flax oil is described as "so vulnerable to oxidation and light" that it requires specific storage protocols unavailable to most other oils. Because of this vulnerability, it must be refrigerated, unlike olive oil, which should never be refrigerated. Flax oil's vulnerability is not just to heat during pressing but to ongoing oxidation and light exposure throughout its shelf life.

Aajonus noted that as oil sits, it becomes more acidic but does not become rancid unless heated over 96°F: "I agree, oil that sits in plastic for very long dissolves the plastic; as oil sits, it becomes more acidic but not rancid, unless it is heated over 96 degrees F."

Aajonus distinguished clearly between the oil and the whole seed. When asked about grinding fresh flax seeds for the oils in them, he rejected the idea outright: "Flax seeds are not digested properly (phytic acid, etc.) in the human system." He further elaborated: "The problem with any kind of a seed like that is a high in carbohydrate. I've learned and experimented with quite a few things since I've written and the book was published. I have turned against high carbohydrates of any kind. Nuts once in a while. Seeds, I still have not found a good thing. You know, they work for birds, but not well for the human being."

He also noted that seeds contain advanced glycation end products (AGEs): "The New York City University Medical Center did tests with advanced glycation end products and they found that the human body stored them, a healthy human body, stored them at a rate of 70% and an unhealthy body at a rate of 90%."

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Aajonus identified Barlean's (sometimes spelled Barleyens or Barleyans in transcripts) as the best flax oil available. The defining characteristic is timing: "They press it the day before they send it." This minimizes the interval between pressing and consumption, thereby reducing oxidation and the development of acidity that occurs the longer oil sits. He recommended this brand across multiple sources and stated it emphatically: "The best flax oil is Barlean's."

In workshop transcripts, Aajonus specified: "They do press those about 86, between 82 and 86 degrees." This is well below the 96°F threshold, making it one of the most favorable flax oils from a temperature standpoint.

Flora's flaxseed oil was listed on Aajonus's approved products guide as pressed at or under 90 degrees. However, when a client investigated and reported that Flora's oil was actually pressed at 98°F, Aajonus clarified that 98°F is acceptable specifically for flax oil. He did not remove it from approved status. However, there is a secondary concern: Flora's oil comes in plastic bottles. Aajonus acknowledged the concern about plastic leaching: "I agree, oil that sits in plastic for very long dissolves the plastic." He recommended transferring oil from plastic to glass as soon as it is received: "You can put it in glass as soon as you receive it."

A client reported that Living Tree's flaxseed oil is cold-pressed without chemicals or solvents but at temperatures below 120°F. Aajonus did not approve this product. The 120°F pressing temperature is well above the 96°F threshold (and above the 98°F tolerance he granted for flax oil), making it unsuitable.

Aajonus was asked specifically whether plastic containers of the quality Flora claims are acceptable. His position: oil that sits in plastic for very long dissolves the plastic, and the oil becomes progressively more acidic during storage. The recommendation is to transfer to glass upon receipt. The concern is the dissolution of plastic into the oil over time, not immediately upon contact.

Aajonus referenced a local flaxseed oil producer using dark-glass-bottled, organic flaxseed oil pressed at about 98°F. He did not disqualify this product on the basis of the glass, and dark glass is the appropriate container since flax oil is so vulnerable to light.

Aajonus repeatedly cautioned about false labeling: "Many producers and distributors label their oils cold-pressed but temperatures will be as high as 250° Fahrenheit depending on the speed and friction produced by the machinery." His universal instruction: "Write or call the producers or distributors of cold-pressed oils. Discover the maximum temperature each oil reaches at all times during processing and bottling." He further stated that when calling, one should speak not with the executive or president of the company but with the chief chemist: "In the past, I have found that most executives of companies are not reliable sources for confirmation of processes; that is why I asked you to speak with the chief chemist for the company." He also instructed people to "get whatever they claim in writing."

Flax oil should always be refrigerated due to its extreme vulnerability to oxidation and light. In contrast to olive oil, which must never be refrigerated, flax oil requires cold storage. Additionally, Aajonus recommended placing each bottle of oil inside a brown paper bag, pressing the bag around the bottle, putting a rubber band at the neck, and storing it in the darkest, coolest cupboard. This prevents the oil from turning bitter and flat even during refrigerated storage.

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Aajonus taught that flax oil must never be consumed without animal fat present. This is not a preference, it is a biochemical requirement in his framework. The reason is the 90% solvent-reactive nature of the oil. When the body converts flax oil into solvents to dissolve toxins, dead cells, and other accumulated matter, those released toxins become free-floating in the bloodstream and lymphatic system. If there are no animal fats present to bind with those dissolved poisons, the toxins will be reabsorbed and recirculate through the system. He stated: "If you don't have those other fats to bind with those poisons, guess what? A lot of it will be re-absorbed."

He explained the biochemistry further: "What it does is the cream and the fats will help bind with those poisons that the pressed oils have dissolved and released and set free. If you don't have those other fats to bind with those poisons, guess what? A lot of it will be reabsorbed."

He described the consequence of taking flax oil or olive oil without animal fat: "If you have olive oil, flax oil, without another fat, guess what's going to happen? When that oil goes in there and is made into a solvent to start dissolving the body, you're not going to have any good fats to bind with those to keep it from being caustic in your system. So it's like taking a solvent and you use a pure solvent to degrease something and you have no water to dilute it. What's going to happen? You're going to have this gunky mess. It's going to be floating around in your blood. You need the animal fats."

Aajonus recommended the following combinations:

• Cream and butter with flax oil: "If you're having olive oil with your meat, you have some honey and some cream and butter with it, or mix it into a sauce. Cream and butter with the olive oil. That is the best way to do it with the least symptoms. Mix them all together."
• Honey with cream and butter alongside pressed oils: Honey assists in binding and in the overall digestive process.
• Meat with fat and flax oil together: "Let's say if you're an overweight person, you can have a meat meal with just olive oil or just, you know, a fish meal with just flax oil." For thin people: "I recommend never having those oils with the meat without some other fat, without some animal fat with it because you will get irritable. You may not be able to sleep well. You may get so acidic that you don't like your life around, you know, your life and the other people around you."

Aajonus noted a particular flavor affinity: "I say that because flax oil slightly tastes like fish. So having them together is a great taste combo." This makes fish meals a natural context in which to use flax oil, with the fish's own fats serving as a partial buffer alongside added butter or cream.

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Aajonus's general position on topical application of pressed oils is caution. He stated: "If I can't eat it, I don't put it on my skin." While flax oil is edible, its solvent-reactive nature and drying effect on glands suggest it is not the preferred topical oil. His preferred topical oils were coconut oil (specifically the Philippine fermented coconut oil pressed under 96°F from Wilderness Family Naturals or from thaiorganiclife.com) and raw unsalted butter, peanut oil (when available), and coconut cream.

He noted that applying cold-pressed-below-96°F oils generally feeds and protects the skin without smothering and poisoning it, but added that "it is healthier for the skin to be allowed to breathe every few days without oils, even if oils are cold-pressed."

Flax oil is not specifically mentioned as a topical application in the sources, and given its particular drying and solvent properties, it is not highlighted in that context.

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Aajonus set a clear ceiling: "It is better drunk not more than 1 tablespoon at a time, in the morning, in a few ounces of fresh raw citrus juice." He reinforced this from the processing-capacity angle: "The body can only handle a tablespoon a day of those pressed oils."

He explained the natural concentration context: "In nature, in the coconut, there's seven to eight percent [oil]. In a leaf, they're about the same, six to eight percent." Pressed oil is far more concentrated than anything found in nature, which is why the body is not equipped to handle large quantities.

If four tablespoons of pressed oil are consumed at one sitting, the body requires approximately four days to process it: "It's going to take you four days to get that out of the system, to utilize it, to make it into solvents, to clean the body, and to process it." This means a large dose does not just affect the day of consumption but creates a multi-day processing burden.

"I recommend the moderate eating of oils, no more than once a day or every other day, and that oils be consumed mainly with one meat meal."

For flax oil specifically used as a seed oil: "Unless you're just using magnesium, a tablespoon at a time a day is all you should have."

The preferred timing is morning, "in the morning, in a few ounces of fresh raw citrus juice." This is the recommended delivery vehicle as well: fresh raw citrus juice, not blended with vegetable juice, not taken on its own without the citrus context.

"Any more than that, you're asking for trouble. More symptoms, more flus, more colds, more aches and pains." Overconsumption of flax oil, even raw and properly pressed, causes excessive detoxification that the body cannot manage, releasing more dissolved toxins than can be bound and eliminated.

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One tablespoon of flax oil in a few ounces of fresh raw citrus juice, taken in the morning. This is both the most fundamental delivery method and the most therapeutically targeted usage.

Flax oil can be incorporated into sauces for meat meals. Aajonus recommended limiting it to one tablespoon maximum in a sauce if other pressed oils are also being used. He cautioned: "I suggest you only use a tablespoon of it to make a sauce if you're using olive oil. If you're going to use it in, like, four ounces of a sauce, don't have any more pressed oils for four days."

Given that flax oil "slightly tastes like fish," Aajonus specifically noted: "A fish meal with just flax oil... is a great taste combo." Fish meals are therefore a natural context for flax oil usage, with the fish providing some fat buffering alongside added butter or cream.

A specific recipe documented by Aajonus includes flax oil in a sauce for fish:

• 2 tomatoes
• 6 tablespoons flax oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted raw butter
• 1 whole cardamom seed
• ¼ teaspoon coriander seeds
• ¼ teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
• ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1 whole clove
• ¼ inch cinnamon stick
• ¼ teaspoon whole allspice
• 1 slice fresh garlic clove
• ½ teaspoon red onions
• 1 pinch paprika
• 3 whole mixed peppercorns
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• ¼ fresh hot red pepper
• 1 tablespoon unheated honey

Method: Blenderize cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, clove, cinnamon, allspice, and peppercorns together in a 4-ounce jar on high speed until they are flour.

Note: This recipe uses 6 tablespoons of flax oil, a quantity Aajonus elsewhere describes as requiring significant buffering from animal fat, which is provided here by the 3 tablespoons of raw butter. This is a sauce for multiple servings (4 servings listed), so per-serving flax oil content is approximately 1.5 tablespoons.

This recipe allows substitution of flax oil in place of butter:

• 6 ounces unsalted raw butter, or olive oil, or flax oil
• 1 slice garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root
• 1 pinch turmeric
• 1 pinch freshly ground cardamom seed
• 1 pinch freshly ground cloves
• 1 pinch nutmeg, freshly ground
• 1 teaspoon fresh red onion (optional)

When using oil rather than butter: "there is no need to immerse in hot water before blenderizing." Blenderize all ingredients together on medium speed for 15 seconds.

Note: The instruction to skip the warm water immersion step when using oil is a practical direction that also reflects Aajonus's position that oils should not be warmed.

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Aajonus addressed the question of making one's own flax oil at home by grinding seeds directly. He rejected this approach: "Flax seeds are not digested properly (phytic acid, etc.) in the human system." The phytic acid present in whole flaxseeds prevents proper digestion and creates problems that the cold-pressed oil, when properly sourced, does not present.

Additionally, he cautioned that seeds in general are high in carbohydrates, and that the body accumulates advanced glycation end products from seed consumption at rates of 70% (healthy body) to 90% (unhealthy body). Thus the pressed oil, when done correctly, is the only usable form of flax for human consumption.

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Aajonus was emphatic that the cold-pressing label is widely fraudulent in the commercial marketplace: "Many producers and distributors label their oils cold-pressed but temperatures will be as high as 250° Fahrenheit depending on the speed and friction produced by the machinery." This applies across the industry. Even companies that explicitly state "no heat is used" may have friction-generated temperatures reaching 98°F or above during the pressing of seeds.

In the case of Flora's flaxseed oil, listed on his approved products guide, a client who inquired directly with the company found that the seeds are ground at 98°F, not at or below 96°F as advertised on Aajonus's list. Aajonus's approved list itself was thus revealed to contain a minor inaccuracy. His response was to clarify that 98°F is specifically acceptable for flax oil (though not for olive, peanut, or coconut oils), demonstrating that his evaluations of temperature thresholds are product-specific, not universal.

A client investigated Living Tree's flaxseed oil and reported that, despite the president's claims of raw, unheated processing, the oil is pressed below 120°F. Aajonus's response noted the problem with relying on executives rather than chief chemists, and the 120°F temperature disqualifies this product regardless of the organic and solvent-free claims.

Aajonus situated the problem of adulterated vegetable and pressed oils within a broader political context: "To use truly natural cold-pressed oils would reduce profits to minimal. Plastic oil is nearly impossible to remove from most bodies without exceptional 'natural' therapies." He used the term "plastic oil" as the plain-language equivalent of trans-fatty acids, a term he stated "should be stricken from vocabulary" because it obscures the reality: these are oils with the same molecular structure as plastic, and 99% of all commercial oils are hydrogenated into this state.

"Nearly every donut, chip, French fry as well as every fried food in every market, even the health-food stores, are fried in plastic oils. They are replete with plastic oils, plastic fat."

Aajonus offered a critical physiological-political argument about why vegetable and seed oils, including improperly processed flax oil, are fundamentally unsuitable for humans: Herbivores maintain body temperatures between 101 and 105°F, which keeps vegetable oils fluid within their systems. The human body temperature is 98.6°F or lower, too cool to keep vegetable oils fluid. The result is that vegetable oils crystallize and harden inside the human body, contributing to hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, congested lymphatic systems, aneurysms, and heart attacks. This is why properly cold-pressed flax oil, kept below 96°F, is critical: above that temperature, even flax oil begins to alter its molecular structure in ways that cause it to harden in the human body the same way mainstream vegetable oils do.

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