New Approaches about Nutraceutical Aspects of Dietary Fiber From Chia Seeds as a Functional Ingredient

Dietary fiber intake has been associated with countless health benefits, which is due mainly to its physicochemical properties and behavior in the gastrointestinal tract. This component has the ability to reduce and to prevent the risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. In this sense, chia seeds have been recognized as a source of dietary fiber with different technological, functional, and nutraceutical properties. The health effects produced by the intake of dietary fiber from chia seeds, both soluble and insoluble, have shown a range of functionalities, affecting the apparent viscosity of the intestinal contents and having the ability to modify the gut microbiota and the production of short-chain fatty acids. In addition, this fiber can influence the absorption of nutrients and nonnutrients through the intestinal membrane and can also limit the action of bile salts, reducing the bioaccessibility of total lipids by approximately 70% and cholesterol (57%). Therefore, this new dietary fiber shows promising attributes to be considered a new functional ingredient.