A new functional food ingredient enriched by Phytoecdisteroids and Polyphenols from quinoa grains (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Objective: Quinoa grains (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) contain a large number of secondary metabolites. Phytoecdysteroids and polyphenols, secondary metabolites, are of great interest for research today. The aim of the study is a method development for the extraction of biologically active substances (BAS) from quinoa grains to obtain a functional food ingredient (FFI) enriched with phytoecdysteroids and polyphenols. Materials and methods: The content of phytoecdysteroids at each stage of quinoa extract production was determined by two methods: HPLC with a spectrophotometric detector and HPLC with a mass spectrometer. The content of total polyphenols was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The flavonoid profile was determined using a liquid chromatography system with a diode array spectrophotometric detector and a triple quadrupole mass spectrometric detector. Results: The chosen technological scheme for the production of FFI can concentrate more than 200 times the major phytoecdysteroid 20-hydroxyecdysone major in quinoa in the final product relative to the raw material. The maximum yield of flavonoids in the final product was observed in cases of 20 and 40% ethanol extraction. Conclusion: These results lead to the conclusion that highly enriched sources of BAS can be obtained using fairly simple technological approaches and commercially available reagents from quinoa grains.