Avaliação nutricional de caruru (Amaranthus spp)

Abstract

Caruru (Amaranthus sp.) is considered an unconventional vegetable, which due to a series of factors is no longer consumed by the population, either by the introduction of other species and varieties of vegetables or due to the increase in the consumption of processed foods and change of food habit, resulting in limited information of the species. Therefore, the objective of this work was to characterize the nutritional compounds of interest, present in leaves and grains of Amaranthus hybridus L. and Amaranthus viridis L. A completely randomized design with four treatments (A. hybridus leaves, A. hybridus grains, A. viridis leaves and A. viridis grains) in triplicate was used in the laboratory. The samples were used for the following evaluations: centesimal composition, caloric value and quantification of macro and micronutrients. The main components were analyzed using the Chemoface program, version 1.4. Both Amaranthus species evaluated in this work presented in their leaves and grains significant levels of nutrients of interest at higher levels such as lipids, proteins, fibers, carbohydrates and the minerals P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and B, than those of conventional vegetables used in a similar way.