Evaluation of starch digestibility of Andean crops oriented to healthy diet recommendation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Starchy Andean crops are often underutilized by consumers, despite their nutritional properties. The starch digestibility of a food is an indicator of its nutritional quality, mainly to prevent cardiometabolic food-related diseases. Limited information on Andean crops’ starch digestibility restricts nutritionists for designing adequate nutrition recommendations. This research evaluates the in-vitro starch digestibility of nine Andean crops flours and provides the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) survey about them among Ecuadorian nutritionists. The results were analyzed with a principal component analysis (PCA) using starch digestion characteristics (rapidly digested starch, RDS; slowly digested starch, SDS; resistant starch, RS; and estimated glycemic index, eGI). The findings showed that the studied crops could be divided into three groups: (1) Puca shungo potato with high RS, low RDS, SDS, and eGI. (2) Melloco, zarandaja, firiguero, and centenario with low RDS, SDS, eGI, and middle RS; (3) finally, quinoa, amaranth, maca, and arracacha with high RDS, SDS, low RS, and middle to high eGI. In addition, the KAP survey indicated that nutritionists lack knowledge about the starch digestibility of Andean crops, despite having positive attitudes toward recommending them. Our results would allow nutritionists to design healthy diet recommendations.