The impact of cooking process in bioacessibility of minerals from chenopodium quinoa

Quinoa seeds (Chenopodium quinoa) are usually reported as a good source of minerals; however, information about in vitro bioacessibility is scarce. The aim of the present study was to estimate the minerals bioaccessibility of quinoa seeds using different cooking processes: raw, steamed and boiled. The digestion of samples were performed using the harmonized static “in vitro” digestion protocol method (IVD)1, with a minor modification concerning the oral phase enzymatic composition (bacterial α-amylase). The copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), phosphorous (P), sodium (Na) and potassium (K) contents were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). Raw quinoa seeds presented the highest bioaccessibility values for Mn, K, P (100%) and the lowest for Ca (19%). After cooking process the highest values of bioaccessibility were observed for Ca (100% in boiled and 74% in steamed) and Cu (90% in boiled and 78% in steamed). Mn showed the highest decrease in bioacessibility when comparing raw and cooked samples (100% and 20% in raw and cooked samples, respectively). Zn presented bioaccessibility values near 40% for raw, boiled and steamed samples. The boiling process was the procedure that allowed to obtain the highest mineral bioaccessibility values for all the assayed minerals. These are the first results that describe the bioaccesisiblity of minerals of quinoa seeds using the harmonized IVD method