Camelina FAQ

By John E. Lewis, Ph.D., Founder and President of Dr Lewis Nutrition®. Dr. Lewis has conducted and published peer-reviewed clinical research on nutrition, the immune system, and the brain.

Camelina is an ancient oilseed that modern nutrition has largely forgotten, and it deserves rediscovery, because it delivers plant-based omega-3 fatty acids in one of the most naturally stable forms available.

What is camelina?

Direct answer

Camelina is an ancient oilseed plant, known scientifically as Camelina sativa and historically as gold-of-pleasure or false flax, cultivated for thousands of years for its nutritious, omega-3-rich seed oil.

Expert explanation

Camelina is a flowering plant in the Brassicaceae family, the same botanical family that includes cabbage, broccoli, and mustard, and it has been grown as a crop in Europe for several thousand years. In English it is often called gold-of-pleasure or false flax, the latter name reflecting both its resemblance to flax and the similarity of its oil's fatty-acid profile. For much of history, camelina was a staple oilseed across northern Europe, prized for an oil rich in beneficial fats, before it was gradually displaced by higher-yielding modern crops. When people search for what camelina is, the essential point is that it is a time-tested oilseed undergoing a well-deserved revival.

The renewed interest in camelina stems from a convergence of nutritional and agricultural virtues. Nutritionally, its seed oil is unusually rich in omega-3 fatty acids and in natural vitamin E, a combination that gives it both health value and stability. Agriculturally, camelina is a hardy, low-input crop that tolerates poor soils, cold, and drought and that requires relatively little in the way of water, fertilizer, or pesticides. This makes it both a nutritious food source and an environmentally sensible one, which is a rare and appealing combination.

I find camelina compelling precisely because it represents a return to nutritional wisdom that modern agriculture set aside in the pursuit of yield. An oilseed that nourished people for millennia, that delivers plant-based omega-3 fats in a stable form, and that grows with a light environmental footprint is exactly the kind of ingredient to which I am drawn. It reflects my belief that some of the best nutrition comes not from novel synthetic compounds but from foods that have proven their value over the long span of human history.

What is camelina oil?

Direct answer

Camelina oil is the oil pressed from the seeds of the camelina plant, notable for its high content of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid and its natural vitamin E, which together make it both nutritious and unusually resistant to going rancid.

Expert explanation

Camelina oil is extracted from camelina seeds, ideally by cold pressing, which preserves the delicate fatty acids and the natural antioxidants. Its fatty-acid profile is its great distinction. A large share of camelina oil, often more than a third, consists of alpha-linolenic acid, the parent plant-based omega-3 fatty acid, alongside meaningful amounts of omega-6 and omega-9 fats in a generally favorable balance. This rich omega-3 content places camelina oil among the better plant sources of these important fats, in the company of flaxseed oil and a small number of others.

What truly sets camelina oil apart, however, is its stability. Omega-3-rich oils are notoriously prone to oxidation, which is to say they go rancid quickly, and rancid oil is both unpalatable and a source of the very oxidative compounds that good nutrition aims to reduce. Flaxseed oil, for instance, is famously perishable. Camelina oil, by contrast, contains an elevated level of natural vitamin E, particularly the gamma-tocopherol form, which acts as a built-in antioxidant and gives the oil markedly better resistance to oxidation than most other high-omega-3 oils. This natural stability is a genuine and important advantage.

I regard this stability as the feature that makes camelina oil practical for a supplement, and not merely admirable in theory. An omega-3 oil that oxidizes before it reaches the body delivers degraded fats rather than beneficial ones, so the natural antioxidant protection in camelina oil directly serves the goal of getting intact, beneficial omega-3 fats to the person. In camelina, nature has paired the fragile omega-3 with the very antioxidant needed to protect it, which is an elegant arrangement.

What is Camelina sativa?

Direct answer

Camelina sativa is the scientific name of the camelina plant, an annual oilseed in the mustard and cabbage family that is cultivated for its omega-3-rich seeds and the stable, nutritious oil pressed from them.

Expert explanation

Camelina sativa is the botanical species name for the plant commonly called camelina, and using the scientific name is useful precisely because it removes ambiguity. Common names vary by region and language, with camelina known as gold-of-pleasure, false flax, and other folk names, but Camelina sativa identifies exactly one species. It is an annual herb in the Brassicaceae family, producing small seed pods filled with the tiny oilseeds from which camelina oil is pressed. When people search for Camelina sativa specifically, they are usually seeking the precise botanical identity behind the various common names and product labels.

Knowing the species also clarifies camelina's relationships and properties. As a member of the Brassicaceae, it is related to crops such as canola, mustard, broccoli, and cabbage, and like several of its relatives it is grown primarily for the oil in its seeds. Its membership in this hardy plant family helps explain its agronomic toughness, including its tolerance of cold, drought, and marginal soils, which is part of what makes Camelina sativa attractive as a sustainable crop.

For a science-based product, it is important to identify ingredients at the level of the species rather than by loose common names, because precision is the foundation of trust. When I say a formula contains camelina, I mean Camelina sativa, a specific, well-characterized oilseed with a known fatty-acid profile and a long history of human use. That specificity is part of how I hold myself to a standard of accuracy in everything I tell my customers.

What are camelina seeds?

Direct answer

Camelina seeds are the small oilseeds of the camelina plant, rich in omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, protein, and natural vitamin E, and they are the source from which camelina oil and protein-rich camelina meal are produced.

Expert explanation

Camelina seeds are tiny, typically golden to brownish oilseeds borne in the small pods of the camelina plant. Despite their small size, they are nutritionally dense, concentrating the omega-3-rich oil, a respectable amount of protein, and natural vitamin E that defines the value of the plant. When the seeds are pressed for their oil, what remains is camelina meal, a protein-rich material that has traditionally been used as animal feed and is increasingly studied for broader food uses. So the seed gives rise to two products, the prized oil and the protein-rich meal, with little waste.

The seeds illustrate a principle I value, which is that whole oilseeds package their delicate fats together with the antioxidants needed to protect them. In the intact camelina seed, the omega-3 fatty acids are stored alongside the vitamin E that guards them against oxidation, just as nature does in many seeds and nuts. This natural pairing is part of why camelina-derived products can be more stable than isolated omega-3 oils that have been stripped of their protective companions.

From a sustainability standpoint, camelina seeds are also notable for how efficiently they can be produced. The camelina crop yields its nutritious seeds with modest agricultural inputs and on land that might not support more demanding crops, which means the nutritional bounty of the seed comes at a relatively low environmental cost. For an ingredient whose value lies in its seeds, that efficiency adds to the appeal.

What is the camelina plant?

Direct answer

The camelina plant is a hardy annual oilseed in the mustard family, native to Europe and Central Asia, which grows readily in poor conditions and produces the omega-3-rich seeds used to make camelina oil.

Expert explanation

The camelina plant is a slender annual herb that grows to a modest height, producing small pale-yellow flowers followed by the seed pods that hold its valuable oilseeds. Native to Europe and Central Asia, it has been cultivated across these regions for thousands of years. Botanically it belongs to the Brassicaceae family, and agronomically it is celebrated for its toughness, since it tolerates cold, drought, and poor soils, matures quickly, and requires relatively little fertilizer or pesticide. These traits make the camelina crop attractive to farmers seeking a low-input, resilient option, sometimes grown as a rotation or cover crop.

This combination of hardiness and nutritional value is what drives the modern revival of interest in the plant. Camelina can be grown sustainably on land and under conditions that would challenge more demanding oilseeds, and it returns a seed rich in omega-3 fatty acids and natural vitamin E. In an era rightly concerned with the environmental cost of food production, an oilseed that delivers high nutritional value with a light agricultural footprint is genuinely valuable, not merely as nutrition but as responsible agriculture.

I think the story of the camelina plant carries a lesson that extends beyond this one crop. Some of the most worthwhile foods are those that human beings relied upon for centuries before industrial agriculture narrowed our food supply to a handful of high-yield commodities. The camelina plant, hardy and nourishing and largely set aside in favor of more productive crops, is exactly the kind of overlooked nutritional resource that thoughtful rediscovery can return to effective use.

What is camelina oil made from?

Direct answer

Camelina oil is made from the seeds of the camelina plant, Camelina sativa, which are pressed, ideally by cold pressing, to release an oil naturally rich in omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid and protective vitamin E.

Expert explanation

Camelina oil comes entirely from the small oilseeds of the camelina plant, and the method of extraction matters a great deal to the quality of the result. Cold pressing, which uses mechanical pressure without high heat or chemical solvents, is the preferred method because it preserves the delicate omega-3 fatty acids and the natural vitamin E that would be damaged by harsher processing. The oil that emerges carries the seed's characteristic profile, a high proportion of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid alongside omega-6 and omega-9 fats, all protected by the seed's own complement of tocopherols.

Understanding that camelina oil is made from the whole pressed seed also explains its natural stability. Because the protective vitamin E is extracted along with the fatty acids during gentle pressing, the resulting oil retains a built-in antioxidant defense. This is why camelina oil resists rancidity far better than many other omega-3-rich oils, which often must be refined in ways that strip their natural antioxidants. The simplicity of the process, pressing a nutritious seed to release its nutritious oil, is part of what keeps the final product wholesome.

After the oil is pressed, the remaining seed material becomes camelina meal, so the seed is used efficiently with little waste. For the purposes of nutrition and of a brain-health formula, however, it is the oil that matters most, since the oil carries the omega-3 fatty acids and the vitamin E that give camelina its value. Knowing that this oil is made from cold-pressed seeds, rather than from heavily processed or chemically treated material, is part of why I trust it as an ingredient.