Chia seeds: A special Functional Food

Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L) are rich in fatty acids, including omega 3 (α-linolenic acid) and 6 (linoleic acid), in addition to the presence of various antioxidants such as caffeic acid, quercetin, miricetin and kaempferol; this nutritional composition of chia seeds encompasses several health benefits such as reduced lipid rates, reduced visceral adiposity, induced insulin resistance, reduced hypertension, as well as reduced cases of cardiovascular disease, which characterize it as a functional food. Functional food is defined as those foods that, besides their basic nutritional features, have health benefits aiming at the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The aim of this study was to conduct Soxhlet extraction over bioactive chia seeds with ethanol as solvent. The extract was analyzed by carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (13CNMR), aiming its characterization and the confirmation of the extracted bioactive, being subsequently nanoencapsulated in polycaprolactone through nanoprecipitation. The homogeneity of nanoencapsulated material was determined by low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and dynamic light scattering analysis (DLS), that was also used to monitor its dimensions and its stability after 90 d, this way, it was verified the effectiveness of the system to produce nutraceuticals for omega 3 and 6 food supplementation from chia seeds.