Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) Seeds: Nutritional composition and biomedical applications

Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) herb plant grows annually and belongs to Lamiaceae family. Its impressive health and biological benefits are due to its nutritional and phytochemical composition. Previous research has been done on chia seeds, protein hydrolysates and oil to evaluate their beneficial role in nutritional and health aspects. Chia can be incorporated in diet, food synthesis, and different industries. It can also be encapsulated to maximize its usefulness to incorporate in regular diets to enhance overall health and battle various illnesses. This review will discuss the recent findings about the nutritional values and the biomedical applications of chia seeds. Throughout this review chia source, constituents, biological activities, beneficial dosage, how to impart in our diet? and possible side effects of overconsumption will be referred. This review will also provide a comparison between the nutritional composition of Egyptian chia seeds and imported seeds.