New Chia Seed Product

05 Aug 2005 --- To stay in the field of food industry, chia seeds are also endowed with high culinary qualities. With a very pleasant smell, chia seed extract could act as an enhancer of taste.

Imagine a world without wheat, rice or banana, and you get an approximate idea of what we are actually missing with chia seeds. Like these most cultivated food crop of the second millennium, the seeds of Salvia hispanica, a Lamiaceae from Mexico, known by the Aztecs as chia seeds, were the most important staple food grain during the Mesoamerican civilisation. Before the Spanish colonisation, chia was even more cultivated than maize in Mexico and in other various part of Central America.

There are many reasons for this great success in the past. Of course, chia does present a large number of medicinal properties, mainly due to its aromatic compounds shared with all plants of this genus. The seeds were used before and after the 16th century against skin diseases, gastro-intestinal disorders, fevers and respiratory ailments and generally speaking as a stimulant. During the post Columbian period, chia seeds were reputed to cure ophthalmologic troubles like eyes obstruction or infections.

Of course as food grains chosen by the Aztecs, chia seeds contain 20% of proteins which is higher than other regular cereals like wheat, oats or barley (14 – 15 %) with an excellent essential amino acids profile.

But overall these wonderful qualities, what make chia seeds an exceptional botanical, is its oil content: 35 % of oil out of which more than 61 % represent the precious omega-3 or alpha-linolenic acid, probably the highest percentage seen in the plant kingdom. With an additional 22% of omega-6 linoleic acid, we reach a total of 83 % essential poly-unsaturated fatty acids. By addition of an optimised natural antioxidant based on rosemary or sage ingredients it is possible to extend the shelf-life to about 2 years which provides a competitive advantage.

This is mainly why, after various ethnobotanical screening and biochemical research, Flavex has selected Salvia hispanica. The German company, based in Rehlingen nearby the French boarder and known for its high quality supercritical CO2 extracts, is now ready to launch chia seeds extract.

As reported by François Gérard, a French ethno-botanist involved in the project, "it is amazing to sum up all usages and properties of Salvia hispanica, and realise at the same time how this plant is so little known in Europe; the field of plant novelties is more in front of us than behind us."

This is confirmed by Dr. K.-W. Quirin, managing director of Flavex Naturextrakte GmbH, who sees for chia seeds extract a “tremendous market for both the cosmetic and the health food industry”. It is true, when we look closer, the chia seed extract presents great potentialities.

In cosmetics, the extract combines real skin advantages, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties, favouring the dermal tissues flexibility with a possible application on mucous membranes. Moreover, the marketing of any product containing chia seed extract could be easily supported by the very trendy image of omega-3.

In health food, and particularly in food supplements, chia seed extract meets the new requirements of unsaturated fatty acids: safe, vegetarian, with a pleasant smell. Moreover, chia seed oil is probably the only botanical oil which can really compete with fish oil due to its fabulous omega-3 acid content.

Although omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are both required for human health it is important to know that during the last century the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in our daily food has changed from originally 4:1 to about 16:1 and is out of balance today. That’s the reason why dietary experts strongly recommend the supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids in order to prevent diseases of civilisation.

Compared to chia seed oil, rapeseed and flaxseed oils have inferior reputation, and evening primrose and borage are omega-6 oils which don't perform the same purpose. After a quick look on the above table, it is easy to predict that in the years to come Salvia hispanica seed oil is going to become the first source worldwide of omega-3.

To stay in the field of food industry, chia seeds are also endowed with high culinary qualities. With a very pleasant smell, chia seed extract could act as an enhancer of taste. The great names of the “Grande Cuisine” will crave to use it, so delicate is its taste and so interesting is its story.

For the time being, Flavex is actually looking for different partnership to valorise the fibres remaining after extraction with the water soluble part including a very high amount of natural magnesium. Companies like Flavex do not only believe in plant innovations, but invest in them.

www.flavex.com

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