EFA's-Evening Primose oil, Flax Seed oil?

[boobman123]

I have been gaining weight and getting alot stronger since Feb, 06....... pretty much clean eating, not an overly amount of excess calories...... during this time I had bumped up my EFA intake.... 2-3 tbsp flax oil a day, 8-10 fish oil caps a day, and Evening primose oil (5-6 caps) a day. I have gotten moderately bigger all over, this is really the first time in my lifting life that I have attempted/tried to gain weight/strength..... I however noticed about 2 weeks ago that my chest looks a little fatty underneath my nipples and my nipples look a little bigger/puffy (I havent used any pro-h or anything) and my stomach and overall body I think is retaining more water (I think)... I stopped using EPO 2 weeks ago and switched to borage oil because I was thinking that the EPO which is a phytoestrogen was causing these changes to my chest......... anyway, my question is .......... is it normal to have these changes to the chest from gaining weight or is it possible that maybe the Flax oil or Epo/borage oil may be contributing to an estrogen effect on my body to cause these changes? I have not found or felt any bumps/lumps underneath my nipples! So whats the deal or am I just overreacting!  Can these kinds of EFA's cause estrogen effects in the male body?

[Bakajin]

I'd say likely you are over-reacting, I've never heard of either of those oils having any direct effect on estrogen levels.  its pretty common to gain both muscle and fat during bulking routines (if you are eating enough).   As your stomach/body is also showing some changes its probably just fat and/or water retention.  Once you finished gaining weight just up the amount of cardio work you do and the excess fat/water should come off.

[moobius]

flax is a source of phytoestrogen...

maybe reduce your flax intake and see if the situation resolves itslef (be sure to report back  )