Chia Chia!

Salvia hispanica, more commonly known as chia seeds, is an ancient seed and traditional food originating from Central and South America. More recently it has been dubbed as a "super food" with a number of health benefits associated with it. Chia has an excellent composition- protein, omega-3s (even more than flax seed!), carbs, plus a lot of fibre. The ratio of omega 3 to 6 fats is an excellent one. Furthermore it contains no gluten and an expanse of phytochemicals giving it antioxidant activity. 

Chia seeds have been suggested to help with weight loss because the high fibre content provides satiety- you just feel fuller for longer so essentially you eat less. With its strong antioxidant activity it has been suggested to decrease the inflammatory response as well. Some studies have looked at it in regards to cardiovascular disease since it has a great combo of omega-3s and antioxidants. It appears to have a positive effect against CVD, but more research needs to be done. Since the majority of all chronic diseases (think obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, etc.) have now been determined to be inflammatory in nature, I wonder if chia would prove to be effective against them as well? There is tons of room for research on this tiny seed and I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it soon.

One interesting article I did come across was using chia seeds for carb loading. The study used 50% chia seeds plus 50% of a sports drink and it was found to provide similar results to just a carb drink. This successfully cut the participants sugar intake down a lot, and at the same time gave them a boost of omega-3s.

I use ChiaNutra and I like to put the seeds in my smoothies (about a tablespoon), and from experience they really do fill you up! Something I'd like to try is creating a chia gel- you soak the seeds in water for about half an hour and you can add it to your cooking, baking, etc. You can easily toss them in your cereal or oatmeal, or on salads. 

If you're looking to boost your omega-3s chia seeds are your best choice, definitely the way to go!




References:
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2012/171956/
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/142/1/64.long
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21183832
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA365093/Chia-for-Health.html