Chia seeds
Salvia hispanica (Chia) are seeds commonly used to supplement dietary fiber and are claimed to have other health promoting properties. Its mechanical properties may provide use during baking and the fiber content good for bowel health with health promoting effects not yet demonstrated.
Chia seeds is most often used for
Last Updated:September 28, 2022
Chia seeds (grain product, surprisingly) are seeds from the plant Salvia hispanica that are ground and used for supplemental purposes to supply dietary fiber and fatty acids. The fiber component is mostly insoluble and absorbs a large amount of water (similar to psyllium husk, comparisons between the two not conducted) while the fatty acid component tends to be mostly omega-3 fatty acids (60% overall and as alpha-linoleic acid) and some omega-6 fatty acids (20% overall and as linolenic acid). There are some phenolics in chia as well, with Myricetin being the most plentiful one.
For all intents and purposes, currently chia supplementation is only really supported for the fiber aspect and even this is not overly well supported. Dietary inclusion of chia (assuming calories are kept the same) has mixed evidence for some health parameters and null evidence for other parameters and currently no human evidence for weight loss. A reduction in appetite has been noted once (common to dietary fiber) but this does not appear to reduce weight over longer trials where diet is not controlled.
- Chia Seeds
- Mexican Chia
- Salba
- Salvia Hispanica
- Salvia divinorum (street drug)
- Salvia sclarea
- Salvia miltiorrhiza
25g of chia tends to be used once daily with a meal for the purposes of general health and intestinal motility. There is no evidence to suggest if this is the optimal dose.
🚧 Under Renovation 🚧
The information in this section is slated for renovation — it will soon be transformed into a more usable (and readable!) form in the coming months. As such, the text in this section may be out of date and not up to Examine’s current standards for writing style.