The Goodness of Quinoa – in Numbers!
Not convinced by our previous articles about the health benefits of quinoa over white rice and even brown rice? In this article, we let numbers do the talking. If rigorous scientific studies from experts around the world can’t convince you to start consuming quinoa, we don’t know what will!
Quinoa is full of important nutrients
The table displays the nutrient contents in 1 cup of cooked quinoa and cooked white rice (i.e. 185 grams) [1] [2]:
| Nutrient |
Quinoa |
White Rice |
| Calcium |
31.0 g |
7.0 g |
| Fiber |
5.2 g |
1.2 g |
| Folate |
78.0 g |
7.0 g |
| Iron |
2.8 g |
0.5 g |
| Magnesium |
118.0 g |
7.0 g |
| Niacin |
0.8 g |
0.7 g |
| Phosphorus |
281.0 g |
44.0 g |
| Potassium |
318.0 g |
26.0 g |
| Protein |
8.1 g |
4.2 g |
| Zinc |
2.0 g |
0.9 g |
Quinoa has a low glycemic index
The glycemic index, or GI, is a rating system that shows the impact of carbohydrate-containing foods on blood sugar compared to pure glucose. Glucose, which significantly spikes blood sugar, has a GI score of 100. Using a scale of zero to 100, GI scores are separated into three groups — low, moderate, and high. Any food with a score of 55 or less falls in the low-glycemic range, 56 to 69 puts it in the moderate-glycemic category, and 70 or above represents a high-glycemic item.
White rice has a GI score of
74 [2].
Brown rice has a GI score of
68 [2].
Quinoa has a GI score of
53 [2] [3].
Quinoa is high in antioxidants
One research
[4] looked at antioxidants in different types of seeds. The following is selected data from this research, featuring levels of phenol (a type of antioxidant) per 100 g:
Amaranth:
21.2 mgGAE
Wheat:
53.1 mgGAE
Quinoa:
71.7 mgGAE
—
Information retrieved from the following research papers/information sources:
[1] United States Department of Agriculture. (2016). Basic Report: 20058, Rice, white, steamed, Chinese restaurant. National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28. Retrieved from <https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6523?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=35&offset=&sort=&qlookup=white+rice> [Accessed 16 June 2016].
[2] Atkinson, F. (2008). International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2008. Diabetes Care, 31(12), pp. 2281-2283.
[3] The University of Sydney. (2016). Quinoa, cooked, refrigerated, reheated in microwave for 1.5 min. GI Foods [online]. Retrieved from <http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=927&ak=detail> [Accessed 16 June 2016].
[4] Alvarez-Jubete, L, et al. (2010). Polyphenol composition and in vitro antioxidant activity of amaranth, quinoa buckwheat and wheat as affected by sprouting and baking. Food Chemistry, 119, pp. 770-778.
