Specialty seeds: Nutrients, bioactives, bioavailability, and health benefits: A comprehensive review

Abstract

Seeds play important roles in human nutrition and health since ancient time. The term “specialty” has recently been applied to seeds to describe high‐value and/or uncommon food products. Since then, numerous studies have been conducted to identify various classes of bioactive compounds, including polyphenols in specialty seeds. This review discusses nutrients, fat‐soluble bioactives, polyphenols/bioactives, antioxidant activity, bioavailability, health benefits, and safety/toxicology of commonly consumed eight specialty seeds, namely, black cumin, chia, hemp, flax, perilla, pumpkin, quinoa, and sesame. Scientific results from the existing literature published over the last decade have been compiled and discussed. These specialty seeds, having numerous fat‐soluble bioactives and polyphenols, together with their corresponding antioxidant activities, have increasingly been consumed. Hence, these specialty seeds can be considered as a valuable source of dietary supplements and functional foods due to their health‐promoting bioactive components, polyphenols, and corresponding antioxidant activities. The phytochemicals from these specialty seeds demonstrate bioavailability in humans with promising health benefits. Additional long‐term and well‐design human intervention trials are required to ascertain the health‐promoting properties of these specialty seeds.

Effect of malting on nutritional and antioxidant properties of the seeds of two industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivars

“…We also detected the phenolic acid p-hydroxybenzoic acid. Although this profile was qualitatively comparable to that obtained in other studies (Alasalvar et al, 2021), we found value quantitatively slightly lower. Differences could be explained by different varieties and quantification methods, as well as the environment that represent an important factor which largely influences the plants' polyphenols profile (Irakli et al, 2019).…”

Elaboration of Cookies Using Oils and Flours from Seeds and Nuts: Effects on Technological, Nutritional and Consumer Aspects

“…The inclusion of chia defatted flour in the formulation of cookies (AWC), although in a small percentage, significantly increased the crude fiber content of the cookies. Chia seeds have 22.00 g/100 g of dietary fiber [ 35 ], which provides many health benefits such as improving serum lipid concentration or reducing the risk of developing different diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke or hypertension [ 36 ].…”

Nigella sativa supplementation improves cardiometabolic indicators in population with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Nigella sativa contains various phytochemicals, including thymoquinone (TQ) which is the main ingredient of this plant. Moreover, thymol and dithymoquinone are other components of N. sativa ( 54 ). Current evidence proposes that N. sativa intake contributes to the modulation of cardiometabolic parameters in diabetes through the improvement of glucose homeostasis and lipid profiles, resulting in the prevention of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular events as diabetes complications ( 55 ).…”