Nutritional and health benefits of buckwheat

Abstract

Buckwheat represents a raw material interesting in term of its nutritional and health beneficial suitability. Buckwheat grain is a source of valuable proteins, starch with low glycemic index or high amount of unsaturated fatty acids. It contains compounds with prophylactic value, too. Buckwheat is one of the richest sources of flavonoids. The highest content of dietary fibre is in bran fraction, where it counts for 40 %. Present phytosterols are usefull in lowering blood cholesterol. Buckwheat is better source of magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese and copper than other cereals. Among vitamins the most abundant is pyridoxin. Buckwheat is effective in management of many diseases, mainly cardiovascular and digestion disorders, cancer, diabetes and obesity. In the last decades buckwheat is an interesting material not only for development of new functional foods, but for the preparation of concentrates with healing buckwheat components, too.