1. It’s the year of Quinoa!
By Stephanie Nehme
So7i W Sari3 Dietitian

2. Quinoa
• The United Nations (UN) has declared 2013 as the
International Year of the Quinoa (IYQ).
• Objective: To raise awareness of how quinoa can provide
nutritional benefits, increase food security, and help
eradicate poverty around the world.
• Additionally, it can easily adapt to different ecologies,
making it easy to grow in all forms of weather and land
conditions.

3. Quinoa
• Quinoa is considered a superfood.
• Protein content is very high (14% by mass), yet not as high as
most beans and legumes.
• Quinoa's protein content per 100 calories is higher than brown
rice, potatoes, barley and millet, but is less than wild rice and
oats.
• Nutritional evaluations of quinoa indicate that it is a source of
complete protein. Furthermore, it is a good source of dietary
fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron.
• Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

4. Quinoa
Surprisingly, because of
all these characteristics,
quinoa is being
considered a possible
crop in NASA's
Controlled Ecological
Life Support System for
long-duration human
occupied spaceflights.

5. Quinoa
HOWEVER:
• Quinoa was important to the diet of pre-
Columbian Andean civilizations.
• It has become increasingly popular in the
United States, Europe, China and Japan where
the crop is not typically grown, increasing crop
value.
• It is NOT a Lebanese staple food.

6. Quinoa v/s Lentils: Nutrition Facts

7. Quinoa v/s Bulgur: Nutrition Facts

8. Quinoa v/s Kidney Beans: Nutrition Facts

9. Quinoa v/s Green Beans: Nutrition Facts

10. Quinoa v/s Chickpeas: Nutrition Facts

11. Conclusion
Quinoa Lentil Bulgur Red
Kidneys
Green
Beans
Chickpeas
Calories 222 225 151 225 35 268
CHOs 39 39 34 40 8 45
Proteins 8.1 17.9 5.6 15 2 14.5
Fibers 5 16 8 11 4 12

12. Conclusion

13. References
• http://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/en/
• http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/
• http://www.timeanddate.com/year/2013/yea
r-quinoa.html
• "IQuinoa brings riches to the Andes“. The
Guardian. Retrieved 17 Jan 2013.
• "Wild Rice: The Protein-Rich Grain that Almost
Nobody Knows About! - Yahoo! Voices -
voices.yahoo.com“. Retrieved 21 May 2013.