Nutrition

Peer reviewed, scientific article on the nutritional value of hempseed:

Click HERE for a article on hempseed nutrition that was published in Euphytica 2004.

Click HERE for a more extensive article on hempseed oil, which was published in 2009 as a chapter in: Gourmet and Health-Promoting Specialty Oils; AOCS Press, Urbana Il, ISBN 978-1-893997-97-4.

Click HERE to see the published results from a clinical trial of Finola® hempseed oil in patients with atopic dermatitis (also know as eczema).

Click HERE to see the published results from a clinical trial of Finola® hempseed oil compared with linseed oil (flaxseed oil) in healthy volunteers.

FINOLA hempseed oil offers a rich source of the two essential fatty acids (EFAs); the alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is an omega-3 fatty acid, and linoleic acid (LA), which is an omega-6 fatty acid. We can not make the EFAs ourselves, so we have to obtain them from our daily diet. In addition, hempseed oil contains significant amounts of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which is and omega-6 fatty acid that is produced in our bodies from LA, and stearidonic acid (SDA), which is a rare omega-3 fatty acid that is produced in our bodies from ALA.

As you can see from the table below, very few plants produce GLA or SDA in their seeds, and hemp is the only industrial source of these rare fatty acids. The GLA and SDA in hempseed oil are probably responsible for the health benefits that we can have from hempseed oil. We have posted two clinical studies on hempseed oil at the top of this page, which clearly demonstrate the functional food properties of dietary Finola® hempseed oil.

FINOLA hempseed and hempseed meal, or ‘seed cake’, contain high amounts of many important nutritional components, including phytosterols, lignins, vitamins and minerals. There is a surprisingly high amount of vitamin E in hempseed, which is also present in hempseed oil.

FINOLA hempseed protein is approximately 1/3 albumin and 2/3 edestin. Albumin and edestin are both high quality proteins, containing all of the essential amino acids in nutritionally significant amounts; especially methionine, an essential sulfur-containing amino that is lacking in most other vegetable proteins. In addition, hempseed lacks the trypsin inhibiting factors that reduce the nutritional absorption of soy protein, for example. Hempseed is also lacking in gluten, an allergenic protein found in wheat and some other grains. FINOLA hempseed protein is also high in arginine, the biological precursor to nitric oxide, which supports healthy blood flow and cardiac function.

Some amino acids are essential to human health, meaning these are not produced by the body and must be obtained as part of the daily diet. In the Table above, the essential amino acids are identified by an asterisk (*). Below, some of this same information presented graphically, to easily see how the amino acid profile of hempseed protein compares with soy and egg white amino acid profiles:

For more information on hempseed nutrition, and the functional food aspects of dietary hempseed oil, please refer to the scientific publications at the top of this page.

The Finola name and the seed-drop logo are trademarked.

The FINOLA variety of oilseed hemp is protected by OECD Plant Breeder Rights.