What is Salba?

Chia (or Salba) seeds come from the Salvia Hispanica L, a plant of the genus Salvia, which is related to the mint family ......... The ancient Aztec civilization used Chia seeds as a staple food to help fuel village runners. Apparently a single handful was enough to satiate and energize the runners for an entire day. The Aztecs would use the Chia seeds not only as food, but also in medicine for poultices, to barter and trade with and even as a tribute. 

Chia seeds can be black, white, brown or gray, and all are highly nutritious. Selective breeding of the Salvia plant for commercial marketing over the last decade however, has focused on the white seeds, developing a more concentrated nutritious white seed, and has been re-marketed as Salba.

Miracle Nutrition

Recent studies done on Salba seeds have shown them to be nutritionally superior to many of the current health foods people rely on today. Dr. Vladimir Vuksan, professor of endocrinology and nutritional sciences of the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto has been conducting research on Salba, and encourages people to include the seeds in their diet. In addition to being beneficial for diabetics, Salba seeds contain the highest fibre content of any grain currently on the market. They also help to lower blood pressure due to the seed’s natural blood thinning effect.

Salba seeds are also superior in protein quality to rice, corn, oats, amaranth, soy, barley and wheat. They boast high mineral contents of potassium, niacin, magnesium, calcium and copper, not to mention being very high in omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. Salba seeds are highly water soluble and can hold up to 14 times their weight in water, helping to effectively slow food digestion and positively affecting satiety levels as well. The fibre content is so high that just 12 grams of Salba can provide more than 5 grams of dietary fibre and also contain enough antioxidants to trump many different kinds of berries.

Salba seeds are so nutritious, in fact, that Dr. Vuksan claims that just three ounces of Salba contains as much omega-3 as eating 28 ounces of salmon, as much calcium as drinking three glasses of milk, as much fibre as eating a cup of All-Bran, as much iron as 5 cups of raw spinach, as much vegetable protein as a cup of kidney beans, as much potassium as a banana and as much vitamin C as eating 7 oranges!

Salba in Your Diet

Incorporating Salba seeds into your diet is as easy as adding sugar into your coffee. Being easily digestible, Salba seeds can be added to just about anything, from cereal to smoothies. Salba has a relatively neutral, slightly nutty flavour, and makes a great substitute for sesame seeds. Salba can also be mixed into baked goods, eaten raw or ground up into a powder. Ground Salba seeds mixed with water can be substituted for eggs and Salba can even be ingested as a drink. A popular drink called Salba Fresca is made by soaking Salba seeds in a large amount of water until the water is mixed with the seeds, producing a gelatinous substance that is refreshing and energizing. Salba seeds can be found in local health food stores around Canada, but are a bit pricey, costing anywhere from $12 to $24 a bag, depending on where you look.
From:   [http://thesoko.com/thesoko/article1597.html]

Salba (Chia Seed) Newly rediscovered health benefits.       

Written by Toma Grubb
    
20 April 2008, Our friends at the Glycemic Index Laboratories have tipped us to an alternative food with newly rediscovered properties.

Chia see hydrated for everyday use. At my house we hydrate our chia seed by placing it in a glass jar with water then refrigerate it over night. When we are ready to use it we just add a table spoon of hydrated chia seed to our cereal, salad or what ever else we want to add it to.

New research by Dr. Vladimir Vuksan's research team at St. Micahel's Hospital in Toronto has revealed fascinating properties of Salba seed, a variant of the Chia grain, highly valued in ancient times by the Aztecs.

Dr. Vuksan, Vice-President of GI Labs, and his team of researchers studied the Salba seed, known to be exceptionally high in nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids and rich in fiber. Dr. Vuksan and his team discovered that regular consumption of Salba in individuals with type 2 diabetes led to a decrease in clotting factors and inflammation. Most importantly, the study participants achieved a drop in blood pressure better than what is typically achieved with many medications. The results of this study have far-reaching applications for the management of type 2 diabetes, offering a non-medicinal effective diabetes therapy.

Canadian researchers have discovered that the same variety of grain that sprouts so verdantly from heads of clay rams, turtles, frogs and other assorted characters in the Chia Pet menagerie also bears a host of health benefits for diabetes patients.

A University of Toronto study published August, 2007 in the U.S. journal Diabetes Care reveals that Salba, a variant of the tiny chia grain, decreases blood pressure, reduces inflammation and thins blood.

"You simply don't see many other ingredients that can do what Salba can," said Vladimir Vuksan, lead researcher on the study and associate director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "You add this to any food, even bad food, and it will improve your health."

The study focused on 20 Type-2 diabetes patients who ate up to four teaspoons of Salba every day for three months. Researchers found that clotting factors dropped 20 per cent and levels of C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation, fell 30 per cent.

Levels of EPA, an essential omega-3 fatty acid found mainly in fish, increased 80 per cent in the patients who took part in the trial.

Most astonishing of all, however, was a six-unit drop in systolic blood pressure (the peak pressure in the arteries).

"That's better than a lot medication," Dr. Vuksan said.

High blood pressure is one of the most common health problems among people with diabetes and tends to amplify all of the disease's potential complications. A six-unit blood pressure reduction "would likely translate into less chance of cardiovascular events or kidney disease" for diabetes sufferers, said University of Toronto professor Amir Hanna, who also worked on the study.

While the study results surprised researchers, they affirmed some ancient beliefs. Several centuries ago, runners were the chief means of communication for the Aztec civilization, and legend has it that they subsisted on chia grains for days at a time.

"It's now no wonder the Aztecs could run so long on this," Dr. Vuksan said. "Their circulation was better, their blood was thinner and their inflammation was less."

Salba is a white variant of that ancient food, which was mainly black, and is slightly smaller than a sesame seed. Part of its appeal is versatility. Almost tasteless, it can be sprinkled on cereal and salad or baked into bread without altering the flavor.

Researchers say it's unclear which of Salba's nutritional components make it so beneficial to diabetics, but the tiny grain had been building buzz in dietitian circles for its long list of advantages even before the study results became clear.

One hundred grams of Salba contains as much omega-3 fatty acid as a 32-ounce Atlantic salmon steak, as much magnesium as 10 stalks of broccoli, as much calcium as 2½ cups of milk and as much iron as half a cup of kidney beans.

Because it's high in insoluble fiber, dietitians are also recommending it as an appetite suppressant.

"I'm hearing about it everywhere right now," Toronto dietitian Cara Rosenbloom said. "Dietitians like to treat patients with food first rather than recommending a lot of supplements, so this makes a lot of sense."

Chia first piqued Dr. Vuksan's attention several years ago when he saw how quickly the grains sprouted from the clay domes of Chia Pets. He thought, "There must be some incredible nutritional properties in this grain."

But when he analyzed common chia grains, he found that their nutritional profiles were inconsistent. One grain could be loaded with vitamins, minerals and omega-3 oils while the next could show virtually none. Only when the Canadian-based Salba Nutritional Solutions - which sponsored the study - finally started growing the more consistently nutrient-rich white variety under controlled conditions in Peru did Dr. Vuksan start studying the grain more seriously.

At first he tested himself. He found that the more Salba he added to his diet, the lower his glucose levels would go.

When he embarked on the clinical diabetes study, he had expected to see the same result among his research subjects. Although their blood-sugar levels showed only a small change, Dr. Vuksan suspects the other nutritional benefits of Salba could still make it worthwhile for diabetics.

"It perfectly fits into our battle to beat diabetes," he said.

Dr. Vuksan is already getting his fill. Before moving on to clinical studies, he adopted a new dinner table accoutrement. At home, he has a salt shaker, a pepper shaker and a Salba shaker. It's something he likes to call "stealth health."

Reference: Diabetes Care, 30:2804-2810, 2007
DOI: 10.2337/dc07-1144 © 2007 by the American Diabetes Association Published online August 8, 2007 [http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/11/2804]

From:  [http://www.diabetic-diet-secrets.com/news/salba-chia-seed-newly-rediscovered-health-benefits..html]

Office for Science and Society  © 2003 Department of Chemistry McGill University

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<o:p>Chia Seeds: The New Supergrain?
The nutritional community is all abuzz about a “supergrain�?that contains even more omega-3 fatty acids than flax seeds. Not only that, it is touted as having the highest fiber content of any food, as being beneficial for type II diabetics and possibly even as providing a remedy for world hunger. We are talking about chia seeds.</o:p>

<o:p>Remember a couple of years ago when “chia pets�?were in fashion? The little clay creatures that grew “hair�?when covered with seeds? Well, now these seeds are making a comeback as a super health food. Chia, or otherwise called Salvia hispanica L., was supposedly highly valued by the ancient Aztecs because they thought it improved their endurance and general health. They called chia their “running food�?because messengers reportedly could run all day on just a handful.</o:p>

<o:p>According to Dr. Vladimir Vuksan, a leading researcher on functional foods and diabetes at the University of Toronto, chia has great health potential. He has found that three and a half ounces of Salba�? a commercial variety of chia developed by Salba Research and Development Inc. in Toronto, contain the same amount of omega-3 fats as 28 ounces of Atlantic salmon, as much calcium as three cups of milk, as much fiber as one and a quarter cups of All-Bran cereal, as much iron as five cups of raw spinach, as much vegetable protein as one and a half cups of kidney beans, as much potassium as one and a half bananas, and as much vitamin C as seven oranges! Moreover, his team used Salba�?in a six-month single-blind study of type II diabetes patients in 2001, and reported amazing results. Blood pressure was significantly lowered, levels of c-reactive protein, an inflammatory protein, were reduced, and the thickness of blood was decreased. Dr. Vuksan was pleasantly surprised with this finding since according to him, “The only other major studies showing a reduction in c-reactive protein have been done with statin drugs.�?/FONT></o:p>