Tricologia

Review
Received: 10 March 2010 Revised: 6 August 2010 Accepted: 6 August 2010 Published online in Wiley Online Library: 2 September 2010

(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI 10.1002/jsfa.4158

Nutrition facts and functional potential of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa willd.), an ancient Andean grain: a review
´ Antonio Vega-Galvez,a∗ Margarita Miranda,a Judith Vergara,a Elsa Uribe,a b and Enrique AMart´nezc Luis Puente ı
Abstract
Quinoa, Chenopodium quinoa Willd., is an Amaranthacean, stress-tolerant plant cultivated along the Andes for the last 7000 years, challenging highly different environmental conditions ranging from Bolivia, up to 4.500 m of altitude, to sea level, in Chile. Its grains have higher nutritive value than traditional cereals and it is a promising worldwide cultivar forhuman consumption and nutrition. The quinoa has been called a pseudo-cereal for botanical reasons but also because of its unusual composition and exceptional balance between oil, protein and fat. The quinoa is an excellent example of ‘functional food’ that aims at lowering the risk of various diseases. Functional properties are given also by minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and antioxidants that canmake a strong contribution to human nutrition, particularly to protect cell membranes, with proven good results in brain neuronal functions. Its minerals work as cofactors in antioxidant enzymes, adding higher value to its rich proteins. Quinoa also contains phytohormones, which offer an advantage over other plant foods for human nutrition. c 2010 Society of Chemical Industry Keywords: Andeancrops; functional foods; human nutrition; physiologically active compounds; quinoa; stress tolerance

INTRODUCTION
A strong earthquake and tsunami recently impacted our Chilean territory.1 This strike left two million people without shelter and food supplies.2 This situation is imposing a large-scale challenge for good-quality food to be readily available. One alternative source of staple food isChenopodium quinoa Willd., a crop present in Chile, although poorly known, and it emerges as a good food candidate due to its exceptional nutritive value but also due to the strong tolerance to stressing abiotic conditions. The genus Chenopodium is distributed worldwide and includes 250 species. This review focuses on the nutritional and functional properties of Chenopodium quinoa, which is atetraploid species, a close relative of beets and amaranth that originated in the Andean region of Bolivia and Peru.3,4 It has been cultivated in this area for the last 5000–7000 years5,6 and from there it was transmitted by livestock migrations and traded to other ancient cultures to the northern (Venezuela) and southern extremes of South America, namely Argentina and Chile.7 This is why it is knownwith different local names, according to voices of different cultures such as ‘tupapa supha’ in Aymar´ , ‘suba’ in Chibcha, ‘ayara’ in Quechua, ‘dawe’ a in Mapudungun (southern Chile) or just quinoa or quinua. This plant was called by the Incas ‘the mother grain’ and it was given a sacred status, a gift from their gods. After the Spanish conquest, it remained only where Europeans could not arriveand introduce grains such as wheat, rye and oat (Altiplano in the High Andes above 3500 m above sea level (a.s.l.)) or in isolated regions where roads are cut off in winter or where the ancient cultures still remain strong and attached to their agricultural practices and to their traditional food consumption habits (aymaras in the northern Chilean Altiplano, isolated farmers of the coast ofcentral Chile

and within the mapuches people in southern Chile). Concerning the more accessible arable lands, the European-introduced crops replaced quinoa.5,7,8 This separation and subsequent isolation determined a strong pattern of genetic differentiation: the high Andes ecotypes are genetically different from the southern ones, as detected by microsatellites, a kind of highly polymorphic...