Are Chia Seeds OK to Eat On The Paleo Diet?

A friend recently asked me whether Chia Seeds would be a healthy part of her diet.  Not 100% sure of the answer, I contacted my # 1 resource, Dr. Cordain himself, to get to the most accurate information possible!

For those of you who receive the weekly Paleo Diet, LLC, Newsletter, this summary will be nothing more than a refresher for you, as Dr. Cordain, just in last Friday's issue, discussed in detail why Chia Seeds, actually, are NOT a good food to have as part of our food options!

Here's a recap of what he said: 

 -"Chia Seeds contain antinutrients, so that once in your body, the available calcium, iron,
zinc, magnesium and manganese from chia seeds are poorly absorbed, hence making
chia seeds a poor dietary source for these minerals." 

-"Chia seed consumption may contain one or more antinutrients which may promote
chronic low level inflammation."

 -"In addition, it is possible that other antinutrients found
in chia seeds may adversely affect gut tissue including saponins which cause a “leaky gut”.  When this occurs, the gut contents may then have access to the
immune system which in turn becomes activated thereby causing a chronic low
level systemic inflammation."   

Dr. Cordain sums up by stating, "Until further human studies are conducted, I would be cautious in
recommending chia seeds for human consumption, particularly in people with food
allergies or known autoimmune diseases."

So- keep the chia seeds for your Chia Pet (do they still sell those? : )  and OUT of your body!