Dr. Wayne Coates (Official Blog)

Chia - a little of its history

2011-06-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Chia Friends

If you go to YouTube and type in AZChia it will take you to a 3 minute video which gives a little introduction to chia and its history and relationship to the Aztecs and the Mayans.

Hope you enjoy.

Wayne

AZChia on Facebook

2011-06-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Chia friends

I have not posted here for some time, just pretty busy trying to help people understand the many benefits of chia.

Please go to AZChia for information on chia, or to purchase our chia and/or chia products. I do not want to use this blog as a commercial selling tool, but do want people to be aware of the products we offer.

Another way to keep up with our activities is to go to our Facebook page which can be found at Facebook/AZChia.

Regards,

Wayne

DHA and prostate cancer

2011-04-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Chia friends

A study just published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reported that the long chain form of omega3 called DHA, (which comes from fish oil) was found to be positively correlated with high grade prostate cancer. These findings are contrary from what would be expected from the normally anti-inflammatory effect of this omega3 fatty acid.

Given these findings men should take a look at reducing the amount of fish oil and fish products consumed and switch to chia since the omega3 form found in chia (ALA) has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects like all omega3 fatty acids, and like other omega3 fatty acids has been shown to have heart healthy benefits, but not the negative prostate cancer effects.

Wayne

Omega3 Summit in Belgium - eat more ALA

2011-03-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Chia Friends

On March 3-4 a Global Summit on Nutrition was held in Bruges, Belgium. The main thrust of the meeting was to discuss omega3 fatty acids in human nutrition.

At the end of the summit a series of Consensus Statements was signed by the participants.

One of the statements read "Reduce LA and increase ALA in human and animal diets". This statement was made in reference to increasing the amount of omega3 in human tissues, since increased omega3 is key to improved human health.

So what does this mean for us?

We need to reduce the amount of LA we eat (which is omega6 and is found in corn, soybeans and similar foods) and increase the amount of ALA we eat which is found in chia as well as few other foods, although in lesser quantities.

Regards,

Wayne

Chia - History, Research, Composition, Uses - the story

2010-10-04T21:24:00.003-07:00

The University of Arizona recently published a presentation I made as part of the invited Faculty Fellows Speaker Series in the Fall of 2005.

The presentation covers the history, composition, benefits of chia and cites some of my chia research work, etc. In essence it is a summary of the book entitled CHIA: Rediscovering a Forgotten Crop of the Aztecs published by the University of Arizona Press of which I am a co-author.

The presentation consists of a video and the slides I used at that time to tell the chia story.

In the past five years many more papers have been published on chia which document its benefits, properties, uses, etc. As a result of increased press, blogs, etc. people are becoming more and more aware of this amazing food, and how it can help improve the health of the world. For updated chia information go to www.azchia.com and click on the My Chia Research link in the left hand column.

I hope you enjoy this presentation and will learn a bit more about this great, healthy food. To view the presentation click here.

How does chia compare to other foods?

2010-09-30T14:43:00.002-07:00

Chia Friends

Thought I would let you know that I added information to the website showing how the four main components of chia (fiber, protein, antioxidants and omega3) compare to a number of common foods, and to a number of common seeds, including flax seed. To go to this page directly click here

I hope you find this of interest.

Regards,

Wayne

High quality chia seed (whole and milled) now available

2010-07-05T19:08:00.009-07:00

Chia Friends

Just to let you know that we now have both whole seed (sold in 1.5 lb bags) and milled seed (sold in 0.7 lb bags) available for sale.

I guarantee the quality is excellent, as I would never sell anything but high quality chia. Neither product is a mixture of seed, and the milled product is produced using a temperature controlled process to ensure freshness and to limit degradation. Nothing has been added during the mechanical process.

The question as to which is better I am sure you will ask. Really it depends on your personal preference as there is no definitive answer and no clinical trials have ever proven one to be superior over the other.

You can go to www.azchia.com and click on the store tab, or go directly to the store by clicking on Store.

We hope you enjoy our chia, both in terms of quality and price. We have done our best to keep the price as low as possible.

Patricia and Wayne

Do you have questions about chia?

2010-06-07T14:29:00.008-07:00

Getting back to the purpose and original goal of my website & blog...educating people about chia.

I now have a Questions & Answers page with some of the most frequently asked questions about chia already posted. Questions that come up through the blog and emails will be added as they come along, and I'll do my best to answer them.

If you have a question, check first to see if it's already been answered. If you can't find an answer, please feel free to ask it here or email me directly.

So, any questions about chia?

Regards,

Wayne

Chia addiction and anti-nutritional aspects of chia

2010-06-02T06:22:00.006-07:00

To chia lovers

There have been several posts and requests to discuss chia's addictive properties as well as some questions regarding one individual's claim of anti-nutritional properties of chia.

I know of neither of these issues, nor have I seen any documented studies which have either said they exist, or which have investigated such claims. If I knew there were any such issues I would certainly make them public as my goal is to share any information, either good or bad, that I have about chia.

I have already started to look into this a bit farther and will continue to do so when I get a bit more time. Once I have some answers I will post them.

Regards,

Wayne

Response to Chia Defender's comment

2010-05-31T16:57:00.013-07:00

As Wayne's wife, I have decided to respond to part of a post that was sent to the Webmaster (see the post below which has been put in bold type).

Regarding Wayne's investment in chia, he began researching various crops in 1991. This research project included various entities, governmental and private. During that research, chia seeds were planted in small plots. After observing the growth and harvesting of the plots, further investigation revealed the viability of this crop for potential commercialization. To that end, he has worked with various people/entities over these past 18+ years to see chia now in full commercial production, as well as the use of it continuing to grow. In 2005, Wayne and I began an internet business selling chia. We continued this until 2008, when the company was sold. Since then, Wayne continues to work with growers and others to get chia into the marketplace.

We are coming back into the retail market again. Competition is good. During our time working with chia, we have purchased chia, both online and in retail markets, from those legitimate chia sellers you speak of. We look at the quality of chia seed. Most important is the cleanliness. Is what you bought mostly chia seeds or did the cleaning process leave behind debris, weed seeds, other seeds, etc? Secondly, we are looking at coloration of the chia seed. Brown seeds indicate the chia was harvested prematurely. Immature seeds will probably be lacking in the nutritional content noted on the packaging. This is what Wayne means by putting good, quality chia on the market. Just as in any product, there are good, fair, and poor products, usually due to quality control issues.

While I realize I am married to him and that brings to it its own prejudices, I hope you will take the time to realize his investment in chia. If his re-entry into the chia retail market creates opportunity for all to sell as well as possibly provide chia at a lower price, then that opens the market to many - buyers and sellers.

Finally, to ask him to return to his animals, etc. is condescending. Those projects with animals are what provided the beginnings of the benefits of chia and bringing it to commercial production.

Patricia

But my interest in this blog has to do with the audacity of AKA Mr. Chia that he could just step in and try to reap the benefits of all the hard work and money that has been invested in bringing awareness to chia by the 100's of legitimate chia sellers around the country. Why does he think that it is necessary to bring a high quality, affordable chia to the market, when there are numerous sites that sell just that. I buy from www.nutsonline.com, as they have an impeccable reputation and they sell a pound of chia for $6.99 and Organic for $9.99. Since Dr. Wayne, AKA Mr. Chia� apparently does not own or operate any chia farms (based on his lack of response from a previous post that you deleted), then how is he going to bring a higher quality and more affordable chia than them, or anyone else for that matter?

It simply appears that Dr. Wayne's gravy train ended and I am sure that the chia sellers will not stand for his desperate return to selling chia. If he wants to continue in the Chia World, then he should continue his Agricultural Engineering work and his studies on how chia affects farm animals, instead of trying to steal money from the hard work of legitimate chia sellers.