Pseudocereals: Nutrition, Health Benefits, and Potential Applications in Gluten-free Food Product Developments

Since the dawn of time, cereals have been acknowledged to play a critical role in meeting human food demand as they are capable of providing significant amounts of macro and micronutrients and calories to an individual’s diet. Pseudocereals, on the other hand, are also naturally high in these critical nutrients but have not been fully investigated for their ability to be used in large-scale manufacturing activities. Although pseudocereal grains provide a reasonable advantage to their users in terms of nutrition and health benefits, many people still do not get the whole advantage out of them. Pseudocereals are edible seeds from the class Dicotyledonae, and represent increasingly popular gluten-free grains with high nutritional value in human diets. Pseudocereals are high in starch, fiber, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals (especially phenolics), which dispense profuse health benefits. They can lower the risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, this work aims to provide an outline of the major types, nutritional and phytochemical composition, health benefits, and potential applications of the three most commonly consumed pseudocereal grains: amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat, to popularize these grains among people. Commercialization of products containing these pseudocereals would aid in combating a variety of health-related issues. Amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat are gluten-free sources and contain no prolamins that are harmful to celiac disease patients. Therefore, pseudocereal-incorporated gluten-free foods would symbolize a step forward in guaranteeing sufficient input of nutrients in celiac disease patients.