Effect of Different preparatory processes on Improving the Nutritional Value of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, Willd) and Studying its Effect on Obese Anemic Rats

Chenopodium quinoa Willd. is a grain of great nutritional value and has gained importanceinmostcountries. The quinoa seeds go through many processes that may change their nutritional value before consumption. The effect of (germination, soaking, fermentation with or without soaking and cooking under pressure) on chemical composition, total antioxidant and anti-nutritional factors contents as well as studying their effects on obese anemic rats were investigated. Forty-eight rats were divided into two main groups. First main group (n=6 rats) was kept as normal group. Second one (n=42) were fed on high-fat diet with 10% tannic acid and iron-removed from the mineral mixture all the period to cause obese anemic rats and were divided into 7 subgroups (6 rats each). One of them was served as a positive control group (+ve), the other subgroups were supplemented with dried raw quinoa, germinated quinoa, soaked quinoa, fermented quinoa before soaking, fermented quinoa after soaking and quinoa cooked under pressure at the level of 20%, respectively. The different preparing methods significantly (P<0.05) increased the total antioxidant capacity as well as total flavonoids and phenols, in addition, decreasing the antinutritional factors. The highest weight reduction was recorded with germinated quinoa seeds. In addition, different types of quinoa preparation improved lipid profile, liver and kidney functions. Also, significant increase (P<0.05) in red blood cell counts (RBC), hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin (Hb) and significant decrease (P<0.05) in white blood cell counts (WBC) concentrations, were observed as compared to the +ve group. The study recommends investigating consumption quinoa in different processing methods by obese anemic patients, especially the germinated and soaked quinoa.