Chemical Characterization of CHIA (<i>Salvia hispanica L.)</i> for Use in Food Products

Abstract

Chia is a seed native to the region that extends from the North of Mexico to Guatemala, and it has been target of study for food enrichment. Many of its newly developed functional foods contain bioactive compounds including dietary fiber, antioxidants and other substances. The objective of this study was to evaluate chia seed (Salvia hispanica L) from her chemical components and prove their claim for functional properties. Chia seeds contain high levels of lipids (34.4%) and are rich in Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9, which constituted 62, 17.4 and 10.5% of the total lipids, respectively. Chia seed also contain fibers (23.7%) and proteins (19.6%). Their extracted phenolic compounds (32.35 µg GAE .mL extract-1) showed antioxidant activity. From the results obtained in the analysis, one should explore the use of this seed in food products, aiming at adding nutritional value and producing foods which contribute to the well-being and health of humans.

Nutritional quality of seeds and leaf metabolites of Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) from Southern Italy

“…Furthermore, our results are in line with many reports of Chia oil content in areas of origin, ranging from 20.30 to 38.60 % [4,5,[37][38][39]. Oil yield can be affected by extraction technique; for example, Ixtaina el al.…”

“…However, to have an effective antioxidant activity, a ratio of tocopherols (mg %) to polyunsaturated fatty acids (g%) > 0.8 should be found [45], whereas in Chia seeds it was about 0.6. Total polyphenols were not significantly different between OM and Pe, whereas Au sample had higher [39], but slightly lower than those reported by other authors [9,38]. All treatments differed in antioxidant activity (p < 0.05), evaluated by ABTS ·+ radical-scavenging assay.…”

Dietary chia seeds (Salvia hispanica) improve acute dyslipidemia and steatohepatitis in rats

“…In agreement with several authors, DC was better than DE because chia is a very rich source of minerals, protein, dietary fiber, and lipids (Ayerza, ; Bushway, Belyea, & Bushway, ; Silveira Coelho & Salas‐Mellado, ). In fact, the nutritional composition of the CS used was similar to other reports, although the lipids content was slightly lower in respect to the average value of 31.11 g/100 g (Bushway et al, ; da Silva et al, ; Romankiewicz et al, ; Silveira Coelho & Salas‐Mellado, ) As expected, most of the fatty acids found in DC and in CS corresponded to those reported in the literature and their amounts (Ayerza, ; Gutiérrez‐Tolentino et al, ; Romankiewicz et al, ; Silveira Coelho & Salas‐Mellado, ); however, this is the first report of butyric acid in a chia‐enriched diet. As butyric acid was not detected in CS, this was probably produced in DC because it is one of the main products of fiber and protein degradation, which are found in high amounts in chia; importantly, butyric acid possesses beneficial metabolic effects and prevents NAFLD (Juárez‐Hernández et al, ; Lyu et al, ).…”

“…Surprisingly, the TPC of DE resulted 11.6‐fold higher than the only one TPC value reported in literature for a rat standard diet (0.59 mgGAE/g) (Vardi, Parlakpinar, Ates, Cetin, & Otlu, ). Besides, data from literature for the TPC of CS report values ranging from 0.642 to 5.78 mg GAE /g, while the value of 4.54 ± 0.11 mg GAE /g obtained in this study is similar to the highest one in the range (Martinez‐Cruz & Paredes‐Lopez, ; Romankiewicz et al, ; Silveira Coelho & Salas‐Mellado, ).…”

“…This slight but significant decrease in the average body weight of DC‐fed rats may be caused by a lower daily average food intake per rat (20.71 g/day, 70.88 kcal/day) compared to rats receiving DE (24.38 g/day, 81.77 kcal/day). The soluble dietary fiber of chia produces a high‐viscosity mucilage (Muñoz, Cobos, Diaz, & Aguilera, ), which may provoke slower gastric emptying and the feeling of satiety (Chen et al, ; Ríos‐Hoyo et al, ; Silveira Coelho & Salas‐Mellado, ). Moreover, chia oil has been described to significantly reduce feed intake (Ayerza & Coates, ).…”