Are Chia Seeds Lectin-Free?
Chia seeds were found not to contain lectins in one study. The study measured the lectin content of the chia seeds after 15 minutes of soaking.
| Chia seeds (after 15 minutes soaking) | no lectins found |
It’s possible that the lectin content in the chia seeds was reduced by the soaking even though it was only for 15 minutes. Soaking reduces lectins in foods because the lectins are water-soluble.
Therefore, if you are looking to eat chia seeds and want to eat as low in lectins as possible, you may want to soak your chia seeds before you eat them. Of course, you would want to get rid of the liquid the chia seeds soak in, as the lectins would soak into the water.
This could reduce some of the “gooey” effect of the chia seeds which can be soothing to the gut.
Are chia seeds lectin free?
It’s hard to say if chia seeds are lectin-free since studies may not detect lectin quantities with perfect accuracy. That being said, in this study, no lectins were detected after 15 minutes of soaking the chia seeds.
Also note that there may be differences between species or varieties of foods and can also be impacted by other things like genetic modification.
Are chia seeds low in lectins?
It seems reasonable to guess that chia seeds are in fact low in lectins given this study that showed no lectins in the chia seeds after just 15 minutes of soaking.
Are chia seeds high in lectins?
It seems unlikely that chia seeds are high in lectins since the result of the study showed no lectins in chia seeds after 15 minutes of soaking.
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Resources:
1. https://sciendo.com/article/10.1515/sjecr-2016-0031