Protein-Rich Flours from Quinoa and Buckwheat Favourably Affect the Growth Parameters, Intestinal Microbial Activity and Plasma Lipid Profile of Rats

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.

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

“…Fotschki et al. (2020) found that the body weight of rats fed with diets containing quinoa protein‐rich flour was lower than that of the control group.…”

“…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.…”

Breeding Buckwheat for Increased Levels and Improved Quality of Protein

“…The final cytotoxic effects arise from not only the levels of bioactive substances, but also as a function of the synergistic actions among these. Thus, buckwheat protein-rich by-products are a good source of bioactive substances [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. However, in-vitro antiproliferative effects on cancer cells do not always predict health-promoting effects, as the impacts must also be studied and confirmed in vivo.…”

“…However, in-vitro antiproliferative effects on cancer cells do not always predict health-promoting effects, as the impacts must also be studied and confirmed in vivo. Some literature data [ 26 ] have stressed the need for a complex evaluation of the biological activities of buckwheat metabolites on intestinal health. Consumption of buckwheat protein extracts has been shown to slow mammary carcinogenesis in rats, which was connected with muscle hypertrophy and reduced hepatic triglyceride concentrations [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”