The benefits and harms of Quinoa

Quinoa is a plant of the family Chenopodiaceae. Considered annual pseudocereal culture. It grows in South America. For a long time she was growing up in the Andes, and then spread to the Himalayas and Tibet. It can be found on the sea coasts. Quinoa was prized from the Indians, and was quite an important element in their diet. It was grown along with corn and potatoes. The fruits of the plants was considered as the best substitute for potatoes and rice in the lean years.

This is a fairly tall plant, can reach the human growth. The plant is divided into three types depending on the color of the beans.

The Europeans drew attention to quinoa only in the nineteenth century. This plant has another name — quinoa.

Properties of quinoa

Consider quinoa cereal culture is wrong, although many people think so. To the closest quinoa relatives include vegetables such as spinach or beets. Its seeds are used to obtain flour and cereals, and young shoots and leaves, you can replace the vegetables. It is noteworthy that the NASA plan to use the quinoa as a food for space workers.

In 100 grams of quinoa contains 370 calories.

Use quinoa

The quinoa contains fiber, ash, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. It is present and a variety of vitamins among which the most vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin PP. It also has Riboflavin, Pantothenic acid, beta-carotene, tocopherol and pyridoxine. Macronutrients and micronutrients in quinoa is also very many, among them is to provide phosphorus and potassium, and also zinc and iron.

Among grain quinoa is the clear leader in the number of nutrients. If you compare it with barley, wheat and rice, all of them quinoa is superior in fiber, Riboflavin, folic acid, carbon and other substances. Nutritionists also believe quinoa is the best grain product.

The quality of mastering of quinoa by the body to compare it with mother's milk. It is possible to obtain a large amount of vegetable protein, which is very important for pregnant women, athletes, vegetarians and children.

For people with allergic disease, quinoa is also useful — it does not contain gluten. In the green quite a lot of lysine, a substance which helps to absorb calcium, to accelerate the growth of hair, heals damaged tissue, prevents the appearance of anemia.

Vitamins a, D, b group and C as well as tryptophan, stimulates serotonin production, helps in hypertension, diabetes and heart diseases.

Well, as mentioned earlier, quinoa is an excellent dietary product, and is it due to the high amount of protein, a tiny amount of fat and many amino acids. All this allows the use of quinoa in the diet and as a major dietary component.

The use of quinoa

It's pretty universal cereal product. It is possible to cook porridge, make a salad. Of quinoa, you can make and vegetable oil.

When cooking, one should follow a few rules:

if you digest the beans, they fall apart, so this process should be treated particularly carefully;
before cooking it is important to rinse the groats in order to avoid the bitterness of cereal;
after the porridge was cooked, it can clump, so it should be very thoroughly mixed.
Quinoa goes well with a variety of products: dried fruits, mushrooms, pepper, greens, carrot, cranberry. It can be used as an alternative to rice when cooking risotto.

If you make grain quinoa flour, you can bake bread or confectionery, such as cookies. Macaroni producers sometimes use flour from quinoa.

Harm quinoa

This product is almost perfectly absorbed by the body, but there is a chance you are hypersensitive to the product. Also should be careful eating quinoa lactating mothers and children because the effect can be negative.