For most people, the term chia seeds brings back memories of cute clay figures in which we used to pour a handful of chia seeds, soaked it in water and in a week had the fluffy, green chia pet. They were extremely popular for a while, and until recently, very few people knew of any other use for chia seeds. But, the latest craze about ‘super foods’ and raw food diet revealed the true treasure hidden in these tiny but mighty seeds.
Forgotten treasure of Aztec Indians
According to local folklore, Aztec Indians cultivated and revered chia plants in pre-Colombian times. Chia seeds were the most important part of the plant and they were made into many local dishes which remained popular in Mexico and Guatemala to this day. Chia seeds were, and still are, ground and mixed with ground corn for a popular dish called pinole, or soaked in water for a refreshing drink called pinolillo, which is the national drink of Nicaragua, or chia fresca in Mexico.
What do we eat
Chia seeds are not the only food that we are rediscovering today. Throughout history, humans depended on 7,000 plants for their most common food needs. Today, mostly due to the modern, completely mechanized agriculture of large scale, majority of the world population survives on about 150 plant species. In fact, the majority of world eats only 12 plants, rice, corn, wheat and soy beans being the most common. This is bad on many levels: commonly used plant crops are vulnerable to plant diseases, they provide poor nutrition and very uninteresting diet. Their cultivation affects plants biodiversity. Fortunately, many native peoples, especially in Central America, continued growing and eating plants and seeds like chia seeds and saved them from extinction.
In the crazy world we live in, about one billion people are going hungry every day. At the same time, obesity is one of the major health issues of developed countries. People that can afford good and plentiful food are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of healthy eating and are looking into sources of health and good nutrition in forgotten foods like chia seeds.
Chia plant
Chia plant belongs to the mint family. It is an annual, what means that it has to be replanted every year. It is grown exclusively for its seeds, which are very rich in oil – 30 percent of each chia seed is pure oil, making chia seeds very economical to cultivate. Although chia has been grown since pre-Colombian times, only now we know about its rich nutritional value and health benefits.
Benefits of chia seeds
Chia seeds owe their current popularity as a health and even ‘super’ food to their high content of omega-3 fatty acids, and α-linolenic acid. Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids are vital in brain function and normal development and growth. They are found to reduce the risk of heart disease and arthritis and even lower the risk of cancer. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found to affect brain function and behavior. They can be used to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression and many other health problems.
Chia seeds are also rich in protein, fat and dietary fiber. In addition, chia seeds are good source of calcium, essential minerals, potassium, phosphorus, sodium and manganese. The ability of chia seeds to slow down the speed with which our bodies convert carbohydrates into simple sugars leads to a hope that chia seeds can play a big future role in controlling diabetes and in fighting obesity. The research is under way in finding other potential benefits chia seeds can have in treating various diseases. Commercial cultivation
Although it is not the country’s native plant, the biggest commercial grower of chia today is Australia, followed by Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina.
Chia is recognized by European Union as novel food and is gaining popularity all over the world as an important ingredient in raw food diet and as a food supplement. It is consumed raw, in salads, soaked in liquid as a drink, or ground and used in a porridge or mixed with other flours and baked into a bread. Although there is now a range of recipes on the market for preparing chia seeds for consumption, it is probably best to look into the way native Mexicans are eating it. After all, they have been doing it for millenia, so it must be for a reason.
