Nutritional value of germinated quinoa seeds and their protective effects on rats' health injected by nicotine

Abstract

N ICOTINE resulted from heavy smoking raises the risk of developing of chronic liver diseases, hence hepatocellular carcinoma. Nicotine also encourages the proinflammatory cytokins production which would be involved in the injury of liver cell. This study was conducted to investigate nutritional components and protective effect of germinated quinoa seeds on rats' health that injected by nicotine. Thirty male albino adult rats (150±10 g.) were used. The rats divided into two main groups; one used as a negative control group fed on basal diet, while other groups used as a positive control group fed on basal diet also and three other rats subgroups fed on supplemented diet with germinated quinoa seeds at three concentrations (i.e. 5 %, 10% and 15%) for 4 weeks, then injected with nicotine subcutaneously for 15 days. Biological evaluation, lipid profile, liver enzymes, kidney functions, and antioxidant markers were estimated at the end of the experiment. The chemical composition of germinated quinoa seeds demonstrated that quinoa can be considered as a good source for dietary fiber, polyphenols and other antioxidant compounds which raised the nutritional value. The results indicated that kidney and liver functions were restored significantly in rats' groups received quinoa seeds 10%, followed by quinoa seeds 5 % as compared to the positive control group. The nicotine rats group showed significant decrease in triglyceride, VLDL-C, and LDL-C; on the other hand, all supplemented groups with quinoa seeds 10%, followed by quinoa seeds 5 % showed a gradually significant increase in HDL-C. Serum total cholesterol and LDL-C were significantly increased in the positive control group, while they gradually significant decreased in all supplemented diet groups demonstrated. Therefore, this study reveals the health benefits of quinoa seeds in functional foods for heart disease, hypercholesterolemic and patients with liver disease.

The functional ingredients of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and physiological effects of consuming quinoa: A review

“…The antioxidant effect has also been confirmed in several in vivo studies. Animal experiments have shown that the consumption of quinoa increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px), and catalase (CAT); as well as affected antioxidant‐related biomarker, reducing levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO), evidenced by decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and increased glutathione (GSH) level (Abdel‐Wahhab et al., 2021; Ahmed et al., 2020; Ali, 2019; Al‐Qabba et al., 2020; Cisneros‐Yupanqui et al., 2020; Matsuo, 2005; Mohamed et al., 2019; Saxena et al., 2017; Wahba et al., 2019). Quinoa diet intervention has been proven to help reduce oxidative stress induced by a high‐fructose diet or CCl 4 injection in rats (Al‐Qabba et al., 2020; Mohamed et al., 2019; Pasko et al., 2010; Saxena et al., 2017).…”

“…For direct evidence, most of the in vivo studies have indicated that the consumption of quinoa can lead to desirable changes in lipid profile, including a significant decrease in TG level, LDL‐C level, and a significant increase in HDL‐C level (Abdel‐Wahhab et al., 2021; Alghamdi, 2018; Ali, 2019; Al‐Qabba et al., 2020; de Oliveira Lopes et al., 2019; Halaby et al., 2017; Li et al., 2018; Mohamed et al., 2019; Navarro‐Perez et al., 2017; Noratto et al., 2019; Pourshahidi et al., 2020; Wahba et al., 2019). A few studies reported that no significant changes were observed on TG level (Farinazzi‐Machado et al., 2012; Noratto et al., 2019; Pourshahidi et al., 2020), LDL‐C level (Navarro‐Perez et al., 2017), or HDL‐C level (Farinazzi‐Machado et al., 2012; Li et al., 2018; Pourshahidi et al., 2020).…”

“…The functional ingredients responsible for the effect on weight gain are thought to be the phenolic compounds, saponins, 20HE, and protein in quinoa (Ali, 2019; Simnadis et al., 2015). The antiobesity and antidiabetic activities of 20HE have been confirmed in some studies (Foucault et al., 2014; Foucault et al., 2012; Kizelsztein et al., 2009).…”

“…In vivo and human studies found that quinoa had mixed effects on weight gain. Studies have reported a significant decrease in body weight gain (BWG) associated with quinoa consumption in high‐cholesterol‐diet‐induced rats (Alghamdi, 2018; Halaby et al., 2017), nicotine‐induced rats (Ali, 2019), high‐sugar‐diet‐induced rats (de Oliveira Lopes et al., 2019; Mohamed et al., 2019), CCl 4 ‐induced rats (Al‐Qabba et al., 2020), healthy rats (Fotschki et al., 2020), and healthy humans (Pourshahidi et al., 2020). In contrast, in some studies, no significant change in body weight was observed in the healthy and obese rats supplemented with quinoa diet (Garcia‐Mazcorro et al., 2016; Matsuo, 2005; Noratto et al., 2019), and the same for the tested postmenopausal women (Carvalho et al., 2015), healthy adults (Farinazzi‐Machado et al., 2012), and overweight adults (Li et al., 2018; Navarro‐Perez et al., 2017).…”

“…Many animal studies have confirmed the hepatoprotective role of quinoa diet, especially under biological stress. Quinoa diet improved liver function in high‐cholesterol‐diet‐induced rats (Alghamdi, 2018; Halaby et al., 2017), CCl 4 ‐induced rats (Al‐Qabba et al., 2020; Saxena et al., 2017), nicotine‐induced rats (Ali, 2019), high‐fructose‐diet‐induced rats (Mohamed et al., 2019), infected fish (Ahmed et al., 2020), cyclophosphamide‐poisoned rats (Wahba et al., 2019), and healthy rats (Fotschki et al., 2020), mainly evidenced by the significant reduction in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. ALT and AST are important indicators of liver function.…”