Pseudocereal grains: Nutritional value, health benefits and current applications for the development of gluten-free foods Cristina Martínez-Villaluenga 1, Elena Peñas 1, Blanca Hernández-Ledesma 2, * 1 Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN-CSIC), Juan de la Cierva 3, 28006 Madrid, Spain. Email:
[email protected];
[email protected] 2 Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Alimentación (CIAL, CSIC-UAM, CEI- UAM+CSIC), Nicolás Cabrera 9, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Email:
[email protected] * Corresponding author. B. Hernández-Ledesma Tel.: +34 910017970; fax: +34 910017905. E-mail address:
[email protected] Abbreviations: DIAAS, digestible indispensable amino acid scores; dw, dry weight; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GF, gluten free; ICR, Institute of Cancer Research; IGF-1, insulin like growth factor; IL, interleukin; LDL, low density lipoproteins; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; NO, nitric oxide; PDCAAS, protein digestibility corrected amino acid score; POx, prolin oxidase; PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids; RS, resistant starch; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-alpha. 1. Introduction Pseudocereals grains are edible seeds belonging to dicotyledonous species that are known as such due to their similar physical appearance and high starch content similar to true cereals (monocotyledonous of the Poaceae family) (Alvarez-Jubete et al., 2010a). Pseudocereals are promising crops of future due to their high genetic variability that is advantageous for them to be adapted to different environments from tropical to temperate climatic conditions (Joshi et al., 2018 and 2019; Ruiz et al., 2013). The most important species are quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa Willd), amaranth ( Amaranthus sp.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum sp.). Quinoa and amaranth belong to Chenopodiaceae family originated from the Andean region in South America.