Quinoa and Buckwheat Flours

Those who suffer from celiac disease have to avoid all gluten in their diet, but diagnosis is not the only concern. There has been concern that some gluten-free products on the market made with rice, corn and potato flour and xanthan or guar gum to improve texture have lower levels of essential nutrients for our bodies.

According to their results, published in Food Chemistry, bread made from quinoa and buckwheat had significantly higher nutritional content in terms of antioxidants and polyphenol than wheat bread.

“Therefore, these pseudocereal seeds represent feasible ingredients in gluten-free baking for increasing the antioxidant properties and phenolic content of gluten-free breads, and improving their overall nutritional quality,” they stated.

Some Study Details

“…as the presently available gluten-free products in the market have been shown to be of poor nutritional quality,” wrote the researchers, led by Eimear Gallagher from the Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc.

Gallagher and her co-workers examined the polyphenol and antioxidant content of extracts of amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat, and compared them to wheat. They subsequently investigated how sprouting and baking affected the results.

According to their findings, buckwheat topped the rankings for phenol content, followed by quinoa, then wheat, and finally amaranth.

Science grows

Studies as theze do support findings from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in New York, which found that replacing the “standard” gluten-free flours with those from ‘alternative’ grains like oats and quinoa may actually improve protein, iron, calcium and fibre intake.

Tina Turbin