But we have not been eating this long enough to know if there are any anti-nutritional factors. That's a reasonable question to ask of any new food, and we need research to answer it. Proponents of hemp seed cite its high-quality protein and its digestibility. It is incorporated into granolas as well as snack chips. Before people started marketing hemp seed oil and hemp nuts, there was hemp rope for the world's navies and, of course, marijuana, which has unfairly contributed to hemp products' image problems.
Edible hemp comes from a different plant than the intoxicating variety.
C. sativa, or hemp, is grown for its fibers and seeds and can be used to make more than 25,000 different products, including textiles, paper, paint, biofuel, particleboard, cordage, cosmetics and food. It has little to no tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the intoxicating substance. Today, industrial hemp is legally cultivated in many countries, including Canada, but not in the United States. Most of our supply of hemp seed for food use is imported from China and Canada. By law, the hemp seed is sterilized so it will not grow.