Characterizing quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) starch composition and structure to diversify its use in human diet formulations

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Quinoa is a pseudocereal (grain like) native to South America, where it formed an important component in thediet of Incan civilization. In the last two decades, Quinoa has gained considerable interest worldwide due to itsability to productively grow under less favorable conditions and grain nutritional composition is superior tomost of the cereal grains. Quinoa is consumed in a manner similar to rice but Quinoa protein concentration ishigher and similar to wheat. Quinoa proteins are rich in lysine, an essential amino acid deficient in all cerealgrains. Quinoa protein has been compared to casein or milk proteins. Quinoa grain also shows a wide diversityin starch composition and structure that influences its digestibility and the availability of glucose to humanbody and glycemic index. Northern Quinoa Production Corporation (NQPC, NorQuin) is a specialty grain andfood processing company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, that is focused to develop new Quinoacultivars with grain composition beneficial for human health. The proposed research aims to optimize highthroughput grain analyses methods to determine Quinoa grain composition. The optimized methods will beused to identify Quinoa genotypes with desired grain composition to be used in a Quinoa breeding program toaccelerate the development of new varieties with added health benefits. Successful completion of this projectwill provide a new grain to be included in the diet for Canadian and international consumers. Diet diversity isa key to achieve nutritional security as Quinoa is rich in several micronutrients that will be added to the humandiet. Grains with less digestible starch will be very useful to prevent and manage obesity and associated chronicdiseases. For agricultural producers, new Quinoa varieties will add to crop diversification as Quinoa can becultivated in less favorable conditions. NQPC is a vertically integrated company working from field to forkcapable to utilize the results of this research for the benefit of Canadian producers and consumers. Successfulcompletion of this research project will contribute to global nutritional security, develop a climate resilient cropfor the new agricultural paradigm reshaping agriculture for health and nutrition.