Abstract
In recent years, dietary products with quinoa and buckwheat have attracted attention mostly due to the high nutritive value of their protein fraction. However, their dietary effect on intestinal microbiota activity and related systemic responses are still poorly understood. Therefore, a 2 week study of twenty-eight growing male Wistar rats was conducted to investigate the effects of quinoa (QU) and buckwheat (BK) protein-rich flours on the growth parameters, intestinal microbial activity, plasma lipid profile, and inflammatory markers. The biological value of protein and body weight gain were considerably increased in the QU and BK groups compared with those in the soy protein isolate group. Moreover, both flours increased the microbial activity of α-glucosidase, β-glucosidase, and α-galactosidase and the concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the caecum. The studied flours favourably reduced the plasma total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. In rats fed a diet with QU, elevated levels of plasma interleukin 6 and alanine transaminase were observed. The effect of QU on inflammatory markers may be related to the increased expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the liver and to the decreased level of plasma albumin. In conclusion, quinoa and buckwheat protein-rich flours are valuable sources of proteins that favourably affect growth parameters, gut metabolism, and blood lipid profile in rats; however, only the buckwheat flour has no effect on inflammatory processes.
Highlights
In recent years, dietary products with quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) have become increasingly popular in the human diet
The buckwheat flour consisted of 24.2% protein, whereas the quinoa flour consisted of 35.7% protein calculated on a dry matter (DM) basis
The butyrate concentration in the caecal digesta increased in the BK and QU groups compared to both control groups, the acetate and total short-chain fatty-acid (SCFA) concentrations significantly increased only in the BK group compared to the CS group. These results reveal the positive effects of BK and QU that promotes the production of microbial-derived SCFA, which have been recognized as important substrates that improve epithelial barrier and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha stabilization [25]
Summary
Dietary products with quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) have become increasingly popular in the human diet. These pseudocereals have attracted attention mostly due to the high nutritive value of the protein fraction, as it provides all essential amino acids for human biological activity with values close to those set by the Food and Agriculture. In addition to being a source of proteins, quinoa and buckwheat seeds are a valuable source of carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, minerals, and phenols, which are associated with health benefits and some antinutrient compounds, such as saponins, phytic acid, tannins, and protease inhibitors [1,2]. This receptor mostly mediates inflammatory mechanisms; the activation of TLR4 induces anti-inflammatory processes through the stimulation of the tryptophan-metabolizing enzyme activity named indoleamine
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