Pressure Cooking Quinoa Boosts Antioxidants, Study Says ⋆ hip pressure cooking

Cooking, especially with pressure, had greater effects than the other processes, and potentiated the functional properties of quinoa grains. – Nickel, J. et al., Food Chemistry

It’s already known that quinoa is an excellent source of protein and essential amino acids but now there’s evidence that pressure cooking makes quinoa even more nutritious.

An upcoming issue of the Journal of Food Chemistry includes a paper that measured how much of “the good stuff” raw quinoa kept after five different preparation methods.

Researchers measured the antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds of raw dried quinoa, rinsed quinoa, and quinoa that had been both rinsed and then either heated, cooked, pressure cooked, or toasted.

Their findings show that not only did the pressure cooked quinoa retain these important compounds, but pressure cooking increased them. The study’s data show that antioxidant capacity in pressure cooked quinoa increased by 33% over uncooked and 18% over conventionally cooked quinoa. Phenolic compounds in pressure cooked quinoa increased by 31% over uncooked and 15% over conventionally cooked quinoa. Interestingly, the researchers also found that toasting quinoa decreased these nutrients compared to all other preparations including raw quinoa (20% fewer antioxidants and 40% fewer phenolic compounds).

hip info: bioactive compound refresher

antioxidants – Any substance that can donate electrons and counteract free radicals has antioxidant properties which can prevent or slow cell damage – there are many, but the most well-known examples include Vitamin C and E.

phenolic compounds – A collection of materials found in herbs and plants that are helpful in cancer prevention and treatment- for example phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, stilbenes, curcuminoids, coumarins, lignans, quinones.

The study’s authors theorize that pressure cooked quinoa’s shorter cooking time retains these nutrients. They also think that the high cooking temperature caused the disruption of complex structures which facilitate the release of individual compounds – as shown in previous studies referenced in the paper.