Hemp Seeds

It may seem that hemp usage throughout the ages was only about fabric, rope and paper. While we may not have as much documentation about consumption of hemp seeds per se, we do know that seeds were used to make butter, hemp milk, oil and flour. Hemp seeds have been a basic part of the food supply all over the world for millennia.

Today, we know precisely why hemp seed can play an important part in our healthy diet. Considered by some to be the most nutritionally complete food in the world, it contains all essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain life. The amino acids are in a highly digestible form, making them completely available to the body.

While hemp seed isn’t the only seed to possess all the essential amino acids, it stands out because hemp seed protein is 65% globulin edistin, a globular biologically active protein. Hemp seed has the highest botanical levels of essential fatty acids. Its perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 linoleic acid and Omega-3 linoleic acid lends powerful support to both the cardiovascular system and to the immune system.

The results of a study in which over 13,000 people participated, suggests that individuals may be able to decrease their risk for cardiovascular disease by following a diet that is high in arginine foods (of which hemp seed is one).

Possessing a perfect fatty acid profile of Omega-3 fats and gamma-linolenic acid, hemp seed helps to naturally balance inflammation levels. The British Journal of Cancer reported that hemp seed can stop and possibly reverse a deadly form of brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme), and researchers from the University of Rostock, Germany found evidence that hemp seed can inhibit cancer growth and metastasis, especially in lung cancer.

Knowing what we do about hemp seed nutritional value, and the ways it can help in preventing some serious but all too common medical conditions, it just seems to make sense to add it to our routine diets.