SALBA RESEARCH

Review of the Literature Regarding Salba and Health Benefits.

November 21, 2011

Mary C. Mulry Ph.D.
FoodWise
foodwise@aol.com

Salba (Salvia hispanica L.) is a special form of white chia seeds from two registered varieties, Sahi Alba 911 and 912, bred to be more consistent than the typical chia seeds available on the market.  Salba has been grown with selective breeding, yielding more nutritionally dense and consistent seeds. 

Both Salba and Chia have been studied for their health benefits in the literature.  This review summarizes the research demonstrating the studies to date show health benefits for Salba. While there are relatively few studies to date have been done from primarily the same laboratory, and the subject numbers are relatively limited, the results indicate that Salba may be very promising in support of normal blood sugar levels, cardiovascular support and in increasing satiety levels, which may be important in the future for supporting weight loss. 

Cardiovascular Support in Diabetics

Twenty well-controlled diabetics, using a single-blind cross-over design, were randomly assigned to receive either 37 ± 4 g/day of Salba or wheat bran for 12 weeks while maintaining their conventional diabetes therapies. Compared with ingestion of the wheat bran control, Salba reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.3 ± 4 mmHg (P < 0.001), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein  by 40 ± 1.6% (P = 0.04, an indicator of inflammation in cardiovascular disease. There were no changes in safety parameters including liver, kidney and hemostatic function, or body weight. Both plasma ALA and eicosapentaenoic polyunsaturated fatty acid levels were increased twofold (P < 0.05) while consuming Salba.
The cardiovascular benefits seen with ingestion of Salba have not been replicated with the use of chia seeds instead of Salba.  In a placebo controlled study of 76 obese or overweight men and women, no differences in many cardiovascular measures such as body composition, inflammation, oxidative stress, blood pressure, and lipoproteins did not differ between the chia seed groups versus the placebo group for both sexes. Ingestion of 50 g/day of chia seed for 12 weeks by overweight/obese men and women had no influence on body mass or composition, or various disease risk factor measures (Nieman et al, 2009).  It is should be noted that these results were performed on overweight, not diabetic individuals.
Furthermore, these glycemic and cardiovascular results were not replicated in a diabetic population for ingestion of flax seeds, although flax did increase polyunsaturated acids in the blood similarly to Salba (Taylor, et al. 2010).  Due to moisture uptake of Salba and chia versus flax, there seems to be less concern about the use of whole vs.  milled Salba as compared to flax, which is not very bioavailable unless ground. 

Maintaining Normal Blood Glucose Levels

Despite strong correlations linking whole-grain consumption to reductions in heart disease, the physiological mechanisms involved remain ambiguous. Salba (Salvia Hispanica L.) whole grain reduces postprandial glycemia in healthy subjects, as a possible explanation for its cardioprotective effects observed in individuals with diabetes (Vuksan, 2010). The study used acute, randomized, double-blind, controlled design in which 11 healthy individuals (6 males and 5 females received 0, 7, 15 or 24 g of Salba baked into white bread either whole or ground.  A dose-response reduction in postprandial glycemia (P=0.002, r2=0.203) was observed with all three doses of Salba, significantly decreasing incremental areas under the curve and time point-specific blood glucose (P<0.05). Decrease in postprandial glycemia provides a potential explanation for improvements in blood pressure, coagulation and inflammatory markers previously observed after 12-week Salba supplementation in type II diabetes. 

Satiety

Appetite ratings were decreased at 60 min after ingestion of 24g Salba, 90 min after ingestion of both 24g Salba and 7g Salba and at 120 min after all treatments (P<0.05) (Vuksan, 2010).  This study indicates that Salba may play a role in decreasing food consumption and therefore weight loss.

References

Nieman, D.C. ,Cayeaa, E.J. , Austina, M.D., Hensonb, D. A. McAnultya, S.R. , Jina, F. 2009.  Chia Seed Does Not Promote Weight Loss or Alter Disease Risk Factors in Overweight Adults.  Nutrition Research 29(6): 414-418. 

Vuksan V., A L Jenkins, A G Dias, A S Lee, E Jovanovski, A L Rogovik and A Hanna. 2010. Reduction in postprandial glucose excursion and prolongation of satiety: possible explanation of the long-term effects of whole grain Salba (Salvia Hispanica L.)European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 64, 436-438.

Vulkan, V., D.Whitham, J. Sievenpiper A. L. Jenkins, A, L. Rogovik, R. P. Bazinet, Edward Vidgen, and A. Hanna. 2007. Supplementation of Conventional Therapy With the Novel Grain Salba (Salvia hispanica L.) Improves Major and Emerging Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Type 2 Diabetes:  Results of a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care 30: 11 2804-2810.

Taylor C. G. A. D.Noto, D.M. Stringer, S.Froese, and L. Malcolmson.  2010. Dietary Milled Flaxseed and Flaxseed Oil Improve N-3 Fatty Acid Status and Do Not Affect Glycemic Control in Individuals with Well-Controlled Type 2 Diabetes.  Journal of the American College of Nutrition 29:72-80