Quinoa seeds (Chenopodium Quinoa): Nutritional value and potential biological effects on hyperglycemic rats

Abstract

Quinoa seeds have an excellent nutrient characterization and contains many phytochemicals which play an important health role. The current study pointed to the chemical composition, minerals content, active compounds (polyphenols, flavonoids and tocopherols), vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids of quinoa seeds (Chinopodium quinoa). Also, evaluation of quinoa seeds on plasma glucose and lipid profiles in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male rats. Rats were split into three groups, the first group was the normal control, the second group was the diabetic control, and the third group was diabetic rats treated with quinoa seeds. Chemical composition revealed that the percent of moisture, protein, fat, fiber, ash and calculated carbohydrates were 11.20 %, 13.64 %, 5.89 %, 6.7 %, 3.1 % and 70.67 % respectively. The total essential amino acid of quinoa seed was 4.88 g/100 g sample. The results indicate that serum alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine and urea were significantly unchanged in diabetic rats whereas, statistically decreased in diabetic rats treated with quinoa seeds compared with control rats. Total serum lipids, total cholesterol, and low density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol levels were significantly increased in diabetic rats, while high density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol levels were decreased, compared to control rats. Otherwise, no significant effect was observed in these parameters between the rats in group 3 and the control group. Eating quinoa seeds among diabetic rats had a hypoglycemic effect and caused the best changes regarding cholesterol, HDL and LDL levels. The results obtained suggest that quinoa may become important as an inexpensive and unique natural source of anti-diabetes, and thus quinoa seed is a promising complementary therapeutic agent against diabetes.

Keywords

• Quinoa seeds
• Active components
• Hyperglycemia
• Fat profile