Chemical and Biological Evaluation of Some Products from Quinoa-Based Blends for Celiac Disease

Celiac disease (CD) is a longevity food intolerance to gluten. Quinoa has complete nutritional characteristics and is gluten free, so it is tolerable for CD. The objective of this study was to estimate chemical, sensory and biological evaluation of some formulated quinoa products as an alternative food suggested for CD. Quinoa, rice, corn, chick-pea flours and their products (cake, biscuit and toast) in different ratio were prepared and examined for sensory properties. It was found that; the best acceptable blends were quinoa flour: rice flour: corn flour with rito1:1:1in cake and toast and quinoa flour: rice flour: chick-pea flour with rito1:1:1in biscuit. Biological evaluation was done on 32 albino male rates classified into four equal groups of eight rats each. Group 1 was the control group, the other groups were fed on the products for 8 weeks. Weight gain and relative organ weights were estimated. Blood picture, lipid profile, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), total protein, albumin, bilirubin, creatinin, uric and glucose were estimated. The results revealed that quinoa flour was free of gluten and the percentage of saponin after washing was 0.2 %. Quinoa flour had 16.4% protein, 8.2 % fat and was rich in Ca, P, Na, K, Mg and Cu. The percentage of some essential amino acids in quinoa flour surpassed the FAO model. Quinoa flour had low percentage of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, but it had high contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids ω6 and ω3. Cake and biscuit were higher in protein, fat and fiber than toast, while toast was the highest in minerals content except for Cu. The biological evaluation for the three products showed that; the weight gain decreased in all the treated groups. All the parameters of the blood tests were as that of the control except for the hemoglobin level. Total lipids, cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were higher in cake fed group than the control group. Liver functions and kidney functions were not affected by feeding on the products; there were no differences in AST and bilirubin levels between the treated groups. Further research, including human clinical trials, is needed and recommended.