Nutrition for Flaxseeds

Calories, Protein, Vitamins and More


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Flaxseeds Nutrition Summary

One tablespoon of flaxseeds (10.3 grams or 0.36 oz) contains 55 calories and 1.9 grams of protein. Flaxseeds consists of 7% water, 29% carbohydrates, 18% protein, and 42% fat.

Flaxseeds are an excellent source of many nutrients, including dietary fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium and thiamin. It also contains significant amounts of iron, selenium, zinc, manganese, copper and phosphorus.

In one tablespoon of flaxseeds:

  • Calories: 55
  • Protein: 1.9 g
  • Sugar: 0.2 g
  • Dietary fiber: 2.8 g
  • Fat: 4.3 g, (Saturated: 0.4 g)
  • Sodium: 3.1 mg
There is no significant amounts of cholesterol in flaxseeds.

See the Flaxseeds Nutrition Chart for complete recommended daily values.
The specific nutritional values from USDA is for: Seeds, flaxseed.

Calories in Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds have 55 calories per tablespoon or 534 calories for every 100 grams. Most of its calories are from fat, carbohydrates and protein.

66% of calories in flaxseeds are from fat, 21% of calories are from carbohydrates and 13% of calories are from protein.

Calories from Carbs

About 21% the calories in flaxseeds are from carbohydrates. The carbs in flaxseeds are mostly in the form of dietary fiber and sugar (93% and 7%). An excellent high-fiber food, a single tablespoon of flaxseeds contains 11% of recommended daily values or 2.8 grams of dietary fiber.

  • Dietary fiber: 2.8 g
  • Sugar: 0.2 g
There is no significant amounts of starch in flaxseeds.

Calories from Fat

The majority, or 66% of the calories in Flaxseeds are from fat. Flaxseeds are high in total fat, with 4.3 grams or 7% of recommended daily values per tablespoon. Most of the fat in flaxseeds are healthier unsaturated fats.

Flaxseeds are cholesterol free and trans-fat free.

  • Total fat: 4.3 g
  • Saturated fat: 0.4 g
  • Monounsaturated fat: 0.8 g
  • Polyunsaturated fat: 3 g
There is no significant amounts of cholesterol or trans fat in flaxseeds.

Omega-3 and Omega-6 in Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds are a great source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, containing a total of 2.35 grams for every tablespoon. It contains significant amounts of alpha linoleic acid. [2]

  • alpha linoleic acid: 2.35 g
Also a good source of omega-6 fatty acids, every tablespoon of flaxseeds contain a total of 0.6 grams of omega-6. In addition, a large portion of the omega-6 in flaxseeds come from linolenic acid - the only essential omega-6 fatty acid. [2]

  • other omega 6: 0.01 g
  • linoleic acid: 0.61 g
The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in flaxseeds is 0.3: 1.

Calories Similar to Flaxseeds

Some other nuts or seeds with similar calories to flaxseeds by weight:


Protein in Flaxseeds

An excellent source of protein, a single tablespoon of Flaxseeds contains 4% of recommended daily values or 1.9 grams of protein. In addition, flaxseeds are also a source of complete protein, meaning it abundantly contains all 9 essential amino acids.

  • Protein: 1.88 g
  • Tryptophan: 0.03 g
  • Threonine: 0.08 g
  • Isoleucine: 0.09 g
  • Leucine: 0.13 g
  • Lysine: 0.09 g
  • Methionine: 0.04 g
  • Phenylalanine: 0.1 g
  • Valine: 0.11 g
  • Histidine: 0.05 g

Protein Similar to Flaxseeds

Some other nuts or seeds with similar amounts of protein to flaxseeds by weight:

Vitamins and Minerals in Flaxseeds

An good source of many nutrients, flaxseeds contain abundant amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium and thiamin. In fact, a single tablespoon of flaxseeds contains 15% of recommended daily values or 0.2 milligrams of thiamin. Also an excellent source of magnesium, a single tablespoon of flaxseeds contains 13% of recommended daily values or 40.4 milligrams of magnesium.

Vitamins in flaxseeds (1 tbsp):
  • Thiamin: 0.2 mg
  • Riboflavin: < 0.1 mg
  • Niacin: 0.3 mg
  • Vitamin b6: < 0.1 mg
  • Vitamin c: 0.1 mg
  • Vitamin e: < 0.1 mg
  • Folate: 9 ug
  • Vitamin k: 0.4 ug
Minerals in flaxseeds (1 tbsp):
  • Calcium: 26.3 mg
  • Potassium: 83.7 mg
  • Iron: 0.6 mg
  • Magnesium: 40.4 mg
  • Zinc: 0.4 mg
  • Selenium: 2.6 ug
  • Phosphorus: 66.1 mg
  • Copper: 0.1 mg
  • Manganese: 0.3 mg
  • Choline: 8.1 mg
There is no significant amounts of vitamin a, pantothenic acid or vitamin b12 in flaxseeds.

Similar to Flaxseeds for Thiamin (Vit B1)

Here are some other nuts or seeds with similarly abundant amounts of thiamin (Vit B1) to flaxseeds:

Flavonoids and Carotenoids in Flaxseeds [3]

Flaxseeds contain a couple of healthy phytonutrients and antioxidants, specifically carotenoid lutein + zeaxanthin. In one tablespoon of flaxseeds:

  • lutein + zeaxanthin: 67 ug

Flaxseeds Nutrition Chart

Flaxseeds:

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Nutrition calculations are from Harvard Medical's nutrient guidelines [1] and USDA's food central database (2019) [2].
We calculated values from 2000 kCal daily recommended diet.

Flaxseeds in Cooking

Most recipes call for one or two tablespoons of flaxseeds.

Friends and Relatives of Flaxseeds

Foods commonly cooked with flaxseeds: Other similar relatives:


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