Summary
Chia seeds (grain product, surprisingly) are seeds from the plant Salvia hispanica that are ground and used for supplemental purposes to supply dietary fiber and fatty acids. The fiber component is mostly insoluble and absorbs a large amount of water (similar to psyllium husk; comparisons between the two not conducted) and the fatty acid component tends to be mostly omega-3 fatty acids (60% overall and as alpha-linoleic acid) and some omega-6 fatty acids (20% overall and as linolenic acid). There are some phenolics in chia as well, and myricetin is the most plentiful.
Overall, chia supplementation is only really supported for the fiber aspect, and even this is not overly well supported. Dietary inclusion of chia (assuming calories are kept the same) has mixed evidence for some health parameters and null evidence for other parameters and currently no human evidence for weight loss. A reduction in appetite has been noted once (common to dietary fiber), but this does not appear to reduce weight over longer trials in which diet is not controlled.
Dosage Information
Take 25 grams of chia once daily with a meal for the purposes of general health and intestinal motility. There is no evidence that this is the optimal dose.
