Amaranth: Composition and processing technologies

Amaranth is an old crop that originated on the American continent. It is one of the few plants from which grain, leaves, and stem are used in human nutrition. The leaves show high content of betacyanins and betalains, the stem is used as forage. The grain is the most used product of the plant, but it is necessary to apply pre-treatments (bursting, germination) to eliminate antinutrients and potentialize its bioactive components. Phenolic compounds (such as ruthin), squalene, and proteins (globulin 11s) are some compounds whose bioactivity has been described. Among the most important bioactivities are the antioxidant, antihypertensive, antidiabetic and anticarcinogenic. Another useful component is the amaranth starch, on which studies have carried out to be able to apply it as an alternative material for microencapsulation.