title: Assessment of the nutritional composition of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.).
abstract: Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an ancient crop which can play an important role for worldwide food security. The current review aimed at evaluating existing compositional data which were compiled according to international standards. A limited number of data were found that met the dataset quality criteria. In general, high variations in nutrient contents of quinoa were observed per 100g edible portion on fresh weight basis, for example: protein (9.1-15.7g), total fat (4.0-7.6g) and dietary fiber (8.8-14.1g). The variations of nutrient values among different varieties and among different data sources were considerable. The results show the nutritional potential of quinoa but they also demonstrate that more high-quality analytical data of quinoa are needed, especially for minerals and vitamins.
authors.affiliation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.affiliation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: ruth.charrondiere@fao.org.
authors.forename: U Ruth
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Charrondière
mesh_terms: D027465:Chenopodium quinoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000032:analysis; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000032:analysis; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000032:analysis; D009753:Nutritive Value; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D018977:Micronutrients
keywords: Chenopodium quinoa; FAO; Food biodiversity; Food composition; Nutrient content; Pseudocereal