Table 1 Health benefits of pseudocereals and their key mechanism
Pseudocereals | Action mechanism | Doses | Models used | Key findings | References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amaranth | Anti-diabetic | Amaranth protein hydrolyzates (25 animals) Duration: 4 weeks (chronic cases) | Streptozotocin induced CD1 mice | Major improvement of glucose tolerance Increase in plasma insulin in acute and chronic cases | Soriano-Santos et al. (2015) | |
Anti-obesity | Control vs. amaranth protein diet in diet induced obesity (48 animals) Duration: 8 weeks | C57BL/6 mice | Increase caecal crypt depth and calceiform cells number Reduction in abundance of Lachnospiracea and Ruminococcaceae induced by high fat diet | Olguín-Calderón et al. (2019) | ||
Cardio-protective | Casein vs. amaranth protein (22 animals) Duration: 2 weeks | Wistar rats | Significant induction of clotting tests, activated partial thromboplastin time and thrombin time | Sabbione et al. (2016c) | ||
Hypertension | Control vs amaranth protein diet incholesterol-enriched diets (42 animals) Duration: 4 weeks | Wistar rats | Decreases of plasma total cholesterol and TG Increase of faecal cholesterol excretion | Lado et al. (2015) | ||
Buckwheat | Antidiabetic | Buckwheat vs rice crackers Duration: one week Control vs. tartary buckwheat (150 g/day) Duration:4 weeks | Diabetic patients (Acute or chronic) 165 Diabetic Individuals | Reduction of level of serum glucose Decrease of fast insulin, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol | Wu et al. (2018); Stringer et al. (2013) Qiu et al. (2016) | |
Antiobesity | Tartary buckwheat flour(50%) Duration: 8 weeks | 144 adult subjects | Inhibits inflammation of adipose tissue Significantly decreased body weight and body fat percentage | Nishimura et al. (2016) | ||
Hypolipidemic | Control, and high fat diet with casein vs tartary buckwheat protein (27animals) Duration:6 weeks | C57BL/6 Mice | Decrease in the level of TC and TG Changes in post prandial plasma GLP-1, GIP, and pancreatic polypeptide after consumption of buckwheat | Chen et al. (2019) Zhou et al. (2018) | ||
Quinoa | Antidiabetic | Control vs. quinoa seeds in high-fructose diet (24 rats) Duration:5 weeks | Wister rats | Blood glucose reduction | Pasko et al. (2010) | |
Cardiovascular disease | Bread enriched with quinoa vs. refined wheat bread (37 individuals Duration:8 weeks | Overweight males | Modification of glucose response Minimal effects on other cardiovascular risk biomarkers (LDL-cholesterol) | Li et al. (2018b) | ||
Anticancer | 25 g of quinoa flakes daily Duration: 4 weeks | 34 women | Decreased interleukin-6, which is a marker of inflammation Tumor reduction | De Carvalho et al. (2014) | ||
Chia seeds | Anti-inflammatory | Control vs.10% chia seed oil Duration: 35 days | 40 BALB/c mice (male and female) | Decreased the estrogen receptor (ER) α expression, a recognized breast cancer promotor | Vara-Messler et al. (2017) | |
Antioxidant property | Milled chia seeds (25 g) per day Duration: 07 weeks | Post-menopausal women(10 subjects) | Significant increase in serum ALA and EPA concentrations Helps in modulation of fatty acid composition of membrane | Jin et al. (2012) | ||