Salba: Myth or Miracle Food?

About nine months before I wrote this article I read an article in The Dallas Morning News about ‘Nature’s Most ‘Perfect’ Food Stuns Diabetes Researchers in Landmark Human studies and decided I needed to try this miracle food. The article was by: Mitch Propster.

The claims about this miracle food were such that it made me want to try it. And the claim that the ancient Aztecs thought of Salba as human fuel (i.e. “running food,”) I wondered how that was known, were there documents or pictures that substantiate this?

This article sent me on a quest to find the ‘miracle food’ Salba. I called the number in the article which turned out to be an advertisement with an offer of a one month supply with a first order, but the price was cost prohibitive, so I thought surely I could get this product at any health food store.

So I went searching. I called or went to all the local health food stores, without success. And when we had company, I would show our visitors the article and asked if they had heard of Salba and knew where I might find it.

And, though most people seemed skeptical that such a miracle food could possible exist; I was determined to find this super food that was purported to be an all-around food, with many benefits.

The article went on to say that the famous diabetes researcher, Dr. Vladimir Vuksan, claimed that Salba was the world’s most nutritious food crop, and being border-line diabetic, I have to find this miracle food.

It was reported to lower blood sugar, controls hunger, and the fiber in Salba helps the digestive system. Such were the claims. That is why had to find this miracle food.

Salba has according to the article,

• more protein than soy
• more antioxidant punch than blueberries and red wine combined
• six times more calcium than whole milk
• eight times the Omega-3 fatty acid of fresh-caught Atlantic salmon
• 15-times the magnesium of broccoli
• six times the iron of kidney beans
• double the amount of potassium found in a banana
• more fiber than any other plant on earth.

As months passed, I forgot about looking for this miracle food, until two days ago, when I came across the article again and Googled the word Salba. And I was surprised to find that it is sold at the Vitamin Shoppe.

Before heading off to the Vitamin Shoppe, I did a little bit more research on this 'miracle food's' similarity to the Chia. I would call it an albino Chia.

I got up early, while hubby was still sleeping, and headed for the Vitamin Shoppe. I purchased both the ground and whole Salba seeds.

As I returned home, hubby was still sleeping, and you would think that I had already had some of the energy boosting, human fuel, I was running on all cylinders, it was so exciting.

Making our breakfast, I decided not to tell hubby, just get him healthy and then tell him why he has so much energy, so...I sprinkled ground Salba in our oatmeal. It was tasteless, so he did not know

For over a week every morning we had Salba in our oatmeal.

Then both hubby and I had scheduled lab test with our doctors. Hubby was first.

He went to see his Nephrologists and because he only has one kidney, she does labs every three months.

My labs are done every six months by my primary care doctor, and was the following day.

Two days later hubby's doctor's office called and said that a prescription had been called in for him and that he was to take the medicine ASAP. They told hubby that his potassium level was so high that it could damage the one kidney he has left and they asked what was different in our diet, had he been eating bananas? And he told them no!

We picked up the medicine and hubby took the 1 dose that was prescribed.

Then my doctor's office called and told me that, my potassium level was way to high, and asked the same questions.

It was then that I realized that it was the Salba. Salba was the only thing different in our diet.

Double the amount of potassium found in a banana, there it was right in front of me.

When you get to much of a good thing.

So...my fellow hubbers, when you read the label, it just might be true, but is it to much of a good thing?

by: Mitch Propster. The Dallas Morning News ‘Nature’s Most ‘Perfect’ Food Stuns Diabetes Researchers in Landmark Human studies’

by: Evita Ochel, B.Sc., B.Ed., CHN is a certified holistic nutritionist, biologist, educator, writer, researcher and speaker in the areas of health, science and holistic wellness. She is a nutritional science expert and her teaching and writing focus on natural, wholesome, plant-based and organic nutrition to achieve optimal health and longevity. September 19, 2008: http://evolvingwellness.com/posts/381/salba-the-history-and-the-present/