Quinoa
Quinoa is a nutritious grain-like food, and an excellent addition to the gluten-free diet.
Unlike a true grain, quinoa is not from the grass family. Quinoa is a chenopod, and is more closely related to beets, spinach and tumbleweeds.
Quinoa is most often eaten as a whole cooked seed, flakes, or quinoa flour used in gluten-free baking.
Quinoa greens are also eatable and nutritious, but are generally not commercially available.
Quinoa originated in the Andes, where it has been a staple for over 6,000 years. It grows well at altitudes up to 4,000 meters, and will grow at low altitudes as well.
Quinoa Allergies
Quinoa is generally well tolerated. A negative reaction to quinoa is the rare, so try quinoa with confidence!
There are exceptions. Read the comments below to see examples of problems people have had with quinoa.
Many if not most of these problems are probably caused by improper preparation of the quinoa. See cooking quinoa to learn the right way to make quinoa and avoid these problems. If you haven’t been preparing your quinoa correctly, then you may develop a sensitivity to it. Try cutting it out of your diet for a few weeks or months, then bring it back in, but be sure to wash it properly.
Keep in mind that people with a reaction to quinoa are likely to find this site and leave a comment, so if you have not tried quinoa before, do not let the tiny likelihood of a reaction put you off from trying it.
If you do have a reaction, then pay attention to it, and remove quinoa from your diet.
Amaranth is a good alternative if you can not tolerate quinoa.
How to Cook Quinoa
Quinoa must be properly rinsed before cooking. This is very important. For complete details on why this is important, and how to cook quinoa, see cooking quinoa.
Quinoa Nutrition
Quinoa is the only plant food with a complete complement of proteins, making the quality of protein similar to meat. Other plant sources of protein must be combined to get a full complement.
| Nutrient | Units | 1.00 X 1 cup ——- 185g |
|---|---|---|
| Proximates | ||
| Water | g | 132.48 |
| Energy | kcal | 222 |
| Energy | kJ | 931 |
| Protein | g | 8.14 |
| Total lipid (fat) | g | 3.55 |
| Ash | g | 1.41 |
| Carbohydrate, by difference | g | 39.41 |
| Fibre, total dietary | g | 5.2 |
| Starch | g | 32.62 |
| Minerals | ||
| Calcium, Ca | mg | 31 |
| Iron, Fe | mg | 2.76 |
| Magnesium, Mg | mg | 118 |
| Phosphorus, P | mg | 281 |
| Potassium, K | mg | 318 |
| Sodium, Na | mg | 13 |
| Zinc, Zn | mg | 2.02 |
| Copper, Cu | mg | 0.355 |
| Manganese, Mn | mg | 1.167 |
| Selenium, Se | mcg | 5.2 |
| Vitamins | ||
| Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid | mg | 0.0 |
| Thiamin | mg | 0.198 |
| Riboflavin | mg | 0.204 |
| Niacin | mg | 0.762 |
| Vitamin B-6 | mg | 0.228 |
| Folate, total | mcg | 78 |
| Folic acid | mcg | 0 |
| Folate, food | mcg | 78 |
| Folate, DFE | mcg_DFE | 78 |
| Vitamin B-12 | mcg | 0.00 |
| Vitamin A, RAE | mcg_RAE | 0 |
| Retinol | mcg | 0 |
| Vitamin A, IU | IU | 9 |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) | mg | 1.17 |
| Tocopherol, beta | mg | 0.06 |
| Tocopherol, gamma | mg | 2.20 |
| Tocopherol, delta | mg | 0.20 |
| Lipids | ||
| Cholesterol | mg | 0 |
| Amino acids | ||
| Tryptophan | g | 0.096 |
| Threonine | g | 0.242 |
| Isoleucine | g | 0.290 |
| Leucine | g | 0.483 |
| Lysine | g | 0.442 |
| Methionine | g | 0.178 |
| Cystine | g | 0.117 |
| Phenylalanine | g | 0.342 |
| Tyrosine | g | 0.154 |
| Valine | g | 0.342 |
| Arginine | g | 0.629 |
| Histidine | g | 0.235 |
| Alanine | g | 0.339 |
| Aspartic acid | g | 0.653 |
| Glutamic acid | g | 1.073 |
| Glycine | g | 0.400 |
| Proline | g | 0.444 |
| Serine | g | 0.326 |
{ 79 comments… read them below or add one }
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Got very ill from eating Quinoa last night… I have never felt this bad in my life! It started with my throat feeling itchy and as if something was stuck in it. Then I got hives, my face swelled up, violent stomach cramps, chills, and vomiting. I think I went into anaphylactic shock and my pressure dropped excessively. I couldn’t even move a finger… It was aggonizing… at least for 2 hours.
I should point out that I have several allergies and intolerances… wheat, dairy, soy, all sorts of weeds and pollens… and I have a rare condition called “Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis” which is an allergic reaction caused by combining exercise and a trigger food (wheat is the worse for me).
So now I can include Quinoa to my list of intolerances… sigh… I also didn’t rinse it last night before cooking because it was purchased in bulk (no instructions) and I didn’t know about the saponin…
Anyway, it was the worse I ever felt in my life.
I’m on a gluten-free diet so was really pleased when I came across quinoa. I ate it for the first time a few weeks ago. Within a couple of hours I got a headache and started to feel nauseous. An hour later I was physically sick and almost immediately started to fell better. At first I thought it was food poisoning, but my wife had eaten exactly the same as me and she was fine. Tonight we tried quinoa again, but this time in the form of rice and quinoa spaghetti, with exactly the same result. It’s the only food I’ve tried that causes such a reaction; even wheat doesn’t make me feel so unwell.
I have eaten quinoa 3 times. The first time was a protein drink in 1996. I was violently ill with vomiting. The second time was later that year at a raw food restaurant. I was more ill that time vomiting and fainting. Yesterday I went to a natural foods store. They were sampling cookies. I ate one. Wanted another but thought I should read the package. They had quinoa in them. I went home rapidly but nothing happened and I thought it was too small an amount to matter and forgot about it. About 3 hours later I was violently ill vomiting and fainting. In addition to these symptoms my abodmen became very painful to the touch and I could not tolerate the waistband of my clothes touching me. Also I had intense upper abdomenal pain. These last two symptoms were new. I am sure I had only a tiny amount of quinoa and am quite convinced this stuff could kill me. Also intolerant to soy and corn.
First time I ate quinoa I got very sick within 20 minutes. Didn’t associate it with the quinoa, and had it again a couple weeks later. Same thing. Jump to several months later, and I bought more, forgetting about my previous experience. This time, it was Trader Joe’s red quinoa. I ate a serving of it last night, and was up most of the night, sick as a dog with vomiting and violent waves of abdominal pain like I’ve never had before. At one point, I thought I was going to go to the emergency room. Eventually I fell asleep, maybe around 3 a.m. It is morning now, and the pain is gone, as if nothing ever happened!
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