Utilisation and limitations of pseudocereals (quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat) in food production: A review (original) (raw)

Introduction

Pseudocereals are dicotyledonous species that produce seeds with a starch content and physical appearance similar to those of true cereals. The seeds of pseudocereals can be ground to produce flour for pasta and bakery goods, but they do not contain gluten. The most popular pseudocereals are quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd), amaranth (Amaranthus L. spp.), and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench and Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn) (Pirzadah & Malik, 2020).

The cultivation of quinoa dates back to 5000–3000 BC in the Andes region of South America. The Incas considered quinoa to be a sacred food up until the time of Spanish colonisation, at which point true cereals were adopted (Angeli et al., 2020). Quinoa production has increased steadily over the past decades, with production and consumption increasing exponentially after 2013 (Hunt et al., 2018). In 2019, quinoa cultivation encompassed 184,585 ha, mainly in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, with production reaching 161,415 tons (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC) (Fig. 1A).

Buckwheat originated in the southwest of China, from the mid-6th millennium BC, outside of the major agricultural centres associated with rice and millet. It then spread to Europe from around the 3rd millennium via trade routes connecting the southern Himalayas to the Caucasus and Europe (Hunt et al., 2018). In 2019, buckwheat cultivation covered 1,673,478 ha worldwide, with the production of approximately 2,042,401 tons (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC). Globally, the Russian Federation (46.72% of global production) and China (29.73%) are the primary producers, followed by the USA (4.77%), Ukraine (4.13%), Kazakhstan (4.03%), and Japan (3.90%) (Fig. 1B).

Amaranthus spp. are native to Central and South America with the exception of some species, such as A. spinosus L., which grow in tropical and subtropical regions of India. Amaranth was a staple food of the Maya and Aztecs of Central America, but consumption fell to negligible levels following European colonisation (Tömösközi et al., 2011). Although amaranth production is not officially recorded by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), key producers include several South American countries, along with China, India, Russia, and Kenya (Aderibigbe et al., 2022).

Interest in pseudocereals has emerged largely because they are rich in numerous compounds with beneficial properties for human health, including proteins, peptides, flavonoids, phenolic acids, fatty acids, vitamins, amino acids, dietary fibres, lignans and unsaturated fatty acids, among others (Martínez-Villaluenga et al., 2020; Pirzadah & Malik, 2020) (Table 1). In addition, pseudocereals show great promise in the production of gluten-free (GF) foods, with interest driven by the rise in dietary choices in which gluten is considered an unsafe ingredient, and by the need to identify alternatives to gluten-rich foods for individuals who suffer from coeliac disease, wheat allergies, or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (Graziano et al., 2019). Given the increase in frequency of these pathologies in developed countries, wider use of wheat-alternative cereals (rice, maize, sorghum, and others) is critical. Projections indicate that GF food production will expand at an annual growth rate of 9.1% from 2019 to 2025 (Martínez-Villaluenga et al., 2020). However, GF foods are usually higher in fats, sugars, and sodium and lower in protein, minerals, and fibres than gluten-rich foods; as such, pseudocereal seeds offer great potential in supplementing the nutritional deficiencies of a typical GF diet (Cornicelli et al., 2018).

Moreover, the exploitation of pseudocereals for food production, reduces the narrow crop rotation increasing crop availability and diversity. In addition, it provides foods with novel properties for meeting worldwide nutritional needs, thereby fulfilling several objectives of the UN's Agenda 2030, such as elimination of hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture (sdgs.un.org/2030agenda).

However, the efficient exploitation of pseudocereals is limited by several technological factors. The lack of a gluten network confers negative characteristics to foods, such as hardness in breads and loss of cooking capacity in pasta (Haros & Sanz-Penella, 2017), while the high phenol content of pseudocereal seeds confers a bitter taste (Suárez-Estrella et al., 2018). Moreover, seeds often contain high concentrations of phytates, saponins, and other compounds that impair their nutritional properties (Suárez-Estrella et al., 2018). Other concerns have also arisen over sustainability and ethical implications, particularly with regard to quinoa which has seen a doubling of the land used for its cultivation over a decade (from 2010 to 2019). In Bolivia, for example, expansion of quinoa cultivation has led to increased rates of deforestation, exacerbating soil erosion (Jacobsen, 2011).

Our primary objective here is to review issues associated with the utilisation of pseudocereals in food production, particularly that of quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat. After the description of beneficial properties of these pseudocereals, we will focus on: i) technological limits in their utilisation for food production (in particular bakery products and pasta) ii) agronomic limitations to pseudocereal cultivation and distribution; iii) potential technological and biotechnological tools for addressing these issues (genetics and “omics” resources); and iv) socio-economic and ethical implications of extensive cultivation, especially with regard to indigenous populations.

Section snippets

Bioactive compounds and their beneficial properties for human health

The wide use of pseudocereals in food products is due to their good nutritional value and the presence of bioactive compounds in grains (Table 1). They contain more lysine, methionine, and cysteine than common cereals as well as starch, fibres and proteins. Furthermore, pseudocereals contain many bioactive compounds, such as saponins, phenolic compounds, phytosterols, phytoecdysteroids, betalains and bioactive proteins and peptides. These compounds, in particular, flavonoids, phenolic compounds

Antinutritional and undesirable compounds in pseudocereals, and potential treatments

Along with their beneficial properties, pseudocereals contain several anti-nutritional compounds, such as saponins and phytates, as well as molecules that may have detrimental effects on the organoleptic properties of derived foods. Specific treatments are required to remove these undesirable compounds (Table 2).

Quinoa seeds contain pericarp saponins that confer a bitter taste to the resulting products, and may reduce zinc and iron absorption (Filho et al., 2017). Saponins have positive

Conclusions

The nutritional value of pseudocereals and their potential to ensure food security are not discussed here; however, it is noted that their utilisation in the food industry is limited by the presence of compounds that confer undesirable organoleptic and technological characteristics. As such, pseudocereals cannot yet fully substitute for true cereals in bakery products, but at present must be considered solely as supplementary material that can be added to selected food products in small

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest for this work.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of the University of Parma (Local Funding for research to MG), and the COMP-HUB Initiative, funded by the “Departments of Excellence” Program of the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR, 2018–2022).

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