Chia Seed (Salvia hispanica L.), Incorporated Into Cookies, Reduces Postprandial Glycemic Variability but Has Little or No Ef-Fect on Subjective Appetite

Chia seed, high in dietary-fiber and protein, may have potential to increase satiety. However, previous studies are confounded by differences in energy intake, and none investigated doses <7g. We compared the subjective appetite and glycaemic responses elicited by 30g cookies containing 0, 3, 5 or 7g chia seed (CS0, CS3, CS5 or CS7, respectively, 140-150kcal, 7-8g fat, 4g protein, 0-2g dietary-fiber, 16g available-carbohydrate) using a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design. Overnight-fasted heathy adults (24 males, 22 females; mean±SD age 37±13y; BMI 27.4±3.9kg/m²) consumed test-cookies and had appetite and plasma-glucose measured before and intermittently for 3h after eating. Data were analyzed by ANOVA with Tukey’s test to adjust for multiple comparisons; the criterion for significance was 2-tailed p<0.025 for the primary endpoints of total area under the curve (tAUC0-3h) for hunger and fullness. Hunger tAUC0-3h was similar among treatments (p=0.49) but fullness differed (p=0.019) with tAUC0-3h after CS3>CS7 (mean±SEM) (140±9 vs 122±10mm×h, p<0.025). Mean incremental glucose AUC0-2h after CS3, CS5 and CS7, respectively, were 22%, 23% and 30% less than CS0 (p<0.05). Thus, although chia reduced glycemic responses, we were unable to demonstrate a significant effect of ≤7g chia seed on the primary endpoints of hunger or fullness tAUC0-3h versus control.