Things to know about:-QUINOA

• The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has officially declared that the year 2013 be recognized as “The International Year of the Quinoa.
• Proposed by the government of Bolivia and receiving strong support from many Central and South American countries, quinoa has now been singled out by the FAO as a food with “high nutritive value”, impressive biodiversity, and an important role to play in the achievement of food security worldwide
• Researchers have recently taken a close look at certain antioxidant phytonutrients in quinoa, and two flavonoid—quercetin and kaempferol—are now known to be provided by quinoa in especially concentrated amounts.
• It contains list of anti-inflammatory phytonutrients in quinoa. This unique combination of anti-inflammatory compounds in quinoa may be the key to understanding preliminary animal studies that show decreased risk of inflammation-related problems (including obesity) when animals are fed quinoa on a daily basis.
• In comparison to cereal grasses like wheat, quinoa is higher in fat content and can provide valuable amounts of heart-healthy fats like monounsaturated fat (in the form of oleic acid).

Facts about Quinoa:

• Quinoa or quinua (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is native to the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.
• Quinoa is also in the same botanical family as sugarbeet, table beet, and spinach, and it is susceptible to many of the same insect and disease problems as these crops. 
• Quinoa is sometimes referred to as a "pseudocereal" because it is a broadleaf non-legume that is grown for grain unlike most cereal grains which are grassy plants. 
• It is similar in this respect to the pseudocereals buckwheat and amaranth.
• Quinoa is a highly nutritious food. 
• The nutritional quality of this crop has been compared to that of dried whole milk by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. 
• The protein quality and quantity in quinoa seed is often superior to those of more common cereal grains (Table 1). 

Table 1. Comparisons of the nutritional quality (% dry weight) of quinoa with various grains.

• Crop	% dry weight
  	Water	Crude Protein	Fat	Carbohydrates	Fiber	Ash
  Quinoa	12.6	13.8	5.0	59.7	4.1	3.4
  Barley	9.0	14.7	1.1	67.8	2.0	5.5
  Buckwheat	10.7	18.5	4.9	43.5	18.2	4.2
  Corn	13.5	8.7	3.9	70.9	1.7	1.2
  Millet (Pearl)	11.0	11.9	4.0	68.6	2.0	2.0
  Oat	13.5	11.1	4.6	57.6	0.3	2.9
  Rice	11.0	7.3	0.4	80.4	0.4	0.5
  Rye	13.5	11.5	1.2	69.6	2.6	1.5
  Wheat (HRW)	10.9	13.0	1.6	70.0	2.7	1.8

• Quinoa is higher in lysine than wheat, and the amino acid content of quinoa seed is considered well-balanced for human and animal nutrition, similar to that of casein (Table 2).Table 2. Essential amino acid pattern of quinon compared to wheat, soy, skim milk, and the FAO reference pattern (1973) for evaluating proteins.

  Amino Acid	Amino Acid Content (g/100g protein)
  	Quinoa	Wheat	Soy		Skim Milk	FAO
  	%
  Isoleucine	4.0	3.8		4.7	5.6	4.0
  Leucine	6.8	6.6		7.0	9.8	7.0
  Lysine	5.1	2.5		6.3	8.2	5.5
  Phenylalanine	4.6	4.5		4.6	4.8	-
  Tyrosine	3.8	3.0		3.6	5.0	-
  Cystine	2.4	2.2		1.4	0.9	-
  Methionine	2.2	1.7		1.4	2.6	-
  Threonine	3.7	2.9		3.9	4.6	4.0
  Tryptophan	1.2	1.3		1.2	1.3	1.0
  Valine	4.8	4.7		4.9	6.9	5.0

• Quinoa is used to make flour, soup, breakfast cereal, and alcohol. Most quinoa sold in the United States has been sold as whole grain that is cooked separately as rice or in combination dishes such as pilaf. 
• Quinoa flour works well as a starch extender when combined with wheat flour or grain, or corn meal, in making biscuits, bread, and processed food.
• Seed coats (pericarp) are usually covered with bitter saponin compounds that must be removed before human consumption. 
• Saponins may also be toxic to fish. 
• Deresination (removal of the pericarp and the saponins by mechanical or chemical means) does not affect the mineral content of the seed (Johnson and Croissant, 1990). 
• The marketable seed is usually white in color. 
• The leaves are frequently eaten as a leafy vegetable, like spinach. 
• Seed imported from growers in South America is sold in the United States in health-food stores and gourmet food shops at high prices.
• Quinoa grain has a lower sodium content and is higher in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc than wheat, barley, or corn (Table 3). Table 3. Comparisons of the mineral content In quinoa grain with barley, yellow corn, and wheat. Quinoa data are based on the average of 15 cultivars.

  Crop	Ca	P	Mg	K	Na	Fe	Cu	Mn	Zn
  	%				PPM
  Quinoa	0.19	0.47	0.26	0.87	115	205	67	128	50
  Barley	0.08	0.42	0.12	0.56	200	50	8	16	15
  Corn	0.07	0.36	0.14	0.39	900	21	-	-	-
  Wheat	0.05	0.36	0.16	0.52	900	50	7		14

• The determination of the mineral content from Colorado quinoa trials showed a similar relationship, but differences from other grains were less conspicuous.