Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul;14(4):431-445.
doi: 10.1111/1541-4337.12135. Epub 2015 Apr 10.

Innovations in Health Value and Functional Food Development of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Brittany L Graf  1 , Patricio Rojas-Silva  1 , Leonel E Rojo  2 , Jose Delatorre-Herrera  3 , Manuel E Baldeón  4 , Ilya Raskin  1
Affiliations

Innovations in Health Value and Functional Food Development of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Brittany L Graf et al. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd., Amaranthaceae) is a grain-like, stress-tolerant food crop that has provided subsistence, nutrition, and medicine for Andean indigenous cultures for thousands of years. Quinoa contains a high content of health-beneficial phytochemicals, including amino acids, fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, saponins, phytosterols, phytoecdysteroids, phenolics, betalains, and glycine betaine. Over the past 2 decades, numerous food and nutraceutical products and processes have been developed from quinoa. Furthermore, 4 clinical studies have demonstrated that quinoa supplementation exerts significant, positive effects on metabolic, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal health in humans. However, vast challenges and opportunities remain within the scientific, agricultural, and development sectors to optimize quinoa's role in the promotion of global human health and nutrition.

Keywords: biological activity; cereal products; dietary supplements; nutritional quality; quinoa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photograph of Chenopodium quinoa plants with varying fruit colors. Courtesy of David Wu, Jiaqi Agri, China.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representative chemical structures of the major pharmacologically active secondary metabolites present in quinoa seeds. A: triterpene saponin, B: phytosterol, C: phytoecdysteroid, D: phenolic acid, E: flavonol glycoside, F: betalain, G: glycine betaine.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Incremental increase in quinoa-related patent applications from 1985 to 2014.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abugoch James LE. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.): composition, chemistry, nutritional and functional properties. Adv Food Nutr Res. 2009;58:1–31. - PubMed
    1. APG. An ordinary classification for the families of flowering plants. Ann Mo Bot Gard. 1998;85(4):531–53.
    1. Bakrim A, Maria A, Sayah F, Lafont R, Takvorian N. Ecdysteroids in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.): biosynthesis, transport and regulation of levels. Plant Physiol Biochem. 2008;46(10):844–54. 10.1016/j.plaphy.2008.06.002. - PubMed
    1. Báthori M. Phytoecdysteroids effects on mammalians, isolation and analysis. Mini Rev Med Chem. 2002;2:285–93. - PubMed
    1. Báthori M, Tóth I, Szendrei K, Rattai M, Minker E, Blazsó G. Determination and isolation of ecdysteroids in native goosefoot species. Herba Hungarica. 1984;23:131–45.