New health food from the ancient Incas

[tophat]

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Grown high in the Andes for millennia, a grain the Incas so prized they deemed it sacred has become a global star and is now being touted as the health food of the future.

Quinoa, a good crop for harsher climes as it prospers in semi-arid conditions and high altitudes where rivals struggle, has nutrition experts salivating as it is chock full of protein and essential amino acids.

"We don't ever get sick, because we eat the quinoa we got from our ancestors," Agustin Flores, a third-generation farmer in Bolivia's southern highlands, told AFP with a touch of salesmanship and a hesitant smile.

"When we are tired, after the working day, we have a drink based on the quinoa grain and that picks us up," said Flores, adding that he and his four sons also consume it in soups and cakes.

Quinoa was originally scorned by Spanish colonizers. At one point its cultivation was banned due to its use in what Spaniards saw as "pagan" ceremonies and the Incas were forced to grow wheat instead.

Known as chisaya mama or "mother of all grains", it was so revered by the Incas that the emperor would traditionally sow the first seeds of the season with special tools made out of gold.

But in the past 10-15 years, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has made major inroads in Western cuisine and is often used as a substitute for pastas, risottos, gratins and taboules.

Ever looking for healthier options, chefs and nutritionists are beginning to take notice of the ancient grain, which has a light, fluffy texture and a mild, slightly nutty flavor.

"With its great nutritional profile quinoa has now become a food of the future," said Epifanio Murana, the head of the Quinoa Producers' Association.

"NASA scientists have called it exceptionally balanced and complete, and highly useful for astronauts' needs," he said.
Ruben Ramiro Miranda, a researcher at the University of Oruro, also sang the praises of the grain which is related to highly nutritional amaranth.

Quinoa can prevent inflammation and hypertension and helps "in the development of neurons, as well as healthy breast milk," he told AFP.

Ancient Inca grain is new health food darling

[tophat]

"We don't ever get sick, because we eat the quinoa we got from our ancestors,"

maita naa ni diri sa ato dah..

quinoa, unsa kaha ni diri noh?

[cptn_star]

NASA would probably formulate new space foods from this.

[tophat]

yes sir. the fact that it is mentioned that they are studying this ancient grain means really something.

on a side note, i read elsewhere that the incas were descendants of the inhabitants of the fabled continent of atlantis. kung tinuod na, this grain most likely came from atlantis. wow..

[Razor_Sharp]

This would be kinda expensive...