OBJECTIVES

To gather and critically appraise all available clinical evidence on the therapeutic effects of chia seed used as adjunct in the treatment of T2DM

METHODS : RCTs from 1990 onwards with T2DM patients given chia seed adjuvant intervention were included in this study. PubMed, Cochrane, ClinicalKey, Google Scholar, and Hinari were searched systematically using MeSH terms including “chia”, “Salvia hispanica”, “dietary supplement”, and “diabetes”. Randomized clinical trials that assessed the clinical effects of chia seed consumption in patients with T2DM were included. The quality of trials was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. Data on the study design, blinding status, characteristics of participants, medications taken by participants, chia seed intervention, comparator, duration of intake, and interval of assessment were extracted.

RESULTS

Four RCTs were included with a total of 213 diabetic patients taking anti-hypoglycemic medications and enrolled in either the treatment group using ground salba-chia or the control group using wheat or oat-based bran. Chia seed adjunct statistically decreased fasting glucose (MD of 2.90 mmol/L [95% CI, -3.08, -2.72]) in three studies with 98 participants, waist circumference (MD of 2.49 cm [95% CI, -2.81, -2.17]) in three studies with 136 participants, lipid profile parameters in two studies with 78 participants: total cholesterol (MD of 2.72 mmol/L [95% CI, -3.68, -1.74]), HDL cholesterol (MD of 3.69 mmol/L [95% CI, -3.95, -3.42]), LDL cholesterol (MD of 3.22 mmol/L [95% CI, -4.08, -2.36]); and increased adiponectin levels (MD of 6.50 mg/L [95% CI, 6.25, 6.25]) in two studies with 108 participants.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrate that Chia can potentially improve certain diabetes related risk factors and may be recommended as an adjunct treatment of T2DM. It significantly decreases FBS, waist circumference, total cholesterol , HDL and LDL , and increases adiponectin. Chia seeds are generally safer and have lesser side effects compared to the placebo.