Assessment of the nutritional composition of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

• Quinoa is an underutilized food with potential to contribute to food security.
• Nutrient content variations between quinoa varieties are considerable.
• Protein content: 9.1–15.7 g per 100 g edible portion (fresh weight).
• Total fat content: 4.0–7.6 g per 100 g edible portion (fresh weight).
• More high quality compositional data on quinoa are needed.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an ancient crop which can play an important role for worldwide food security. The current review aimed at evaluating existing compositional data which were compiled according to international standards. A limited number of data were found that met the dataset quality criteria. In general, high variations in nutrient contents of quinoa were observed per 100 g edible portion on fresh weight basis, for example: protein (9.1–15.7 g), total fat (4.0–7.6 g) and dietary fiber (8.8–14.1 g). The variations of nutrient values among different varieties and among different data sources were considerable. The results show the nutritional potential of quinoa but they also demonstrate that more high-quality analytical data of quinoa are needed, especially for minerals and vitamins.