Quinoa Beverages: Formulation, Processing and Potential Health Benefits
AbstractBackground and Aims: Research on innovative foods and beverages that serve well to the nutritional needs of individuals suffering from metabolic disorders like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia is an urgent need for today. This study aims to describe a method for preparing gluten free quinoa beverages and to investigate their effects on human health.Material and methods: Quinoa beverages were prepared from raw, soaked, germinated and malted quinoa seeds. We investigated their antioxidant activity, antidiabetic and antihypertensive potential using in vitro models.Results: Among all beverages, malted quinoa beverage (MQB) showed higher protein content (2.9 g/100ml), total phenolic content (2.9 mg Gallic Acid Equivalents (GAE)/g), antioxidant activity (92%) which was well correlated with higher antidiabetic potential (40% at 150μL) by α-glucosidase inhibition. Very low α-amylase inhibition was exhibited by all the beverages (0.4-1.5 %). ACE inhibitory activity was almost negligible for raw quinoa beverage (RQB), soaked quinoa beverage (SQB), minor for germinated quinoa beverage (GQB) (0.2% at 300μL) and higher for MQB (0.9% at 300μL). Total phenolic content was found to be well correlated with DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl), α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition activity in all beverages but poor correlation was found in case of ACE inhibition activity. Among all, GQB was highly acceptable with acceptability magnitude at par with commonly available commercial soya milk.Conclusion: We conclude that quinoa beverages, especially MQB, have antidiabetic and antihypertensive potential, and hence, can be effectively included among diet choices for the management of diabetes and hypertension. In the future, further studies are required in order to characterize phenolic constituents in quinoa beverages responsible for the antidiabetic and antihypertensive potential.