Nutritional facts, bio-active components and processing aspects of pseudocereals: A comprehensive review

Abstract Consumers are becoming more conscious to adopt a healthy lifestyle and demand highly nutritious foods. Pseudocereals have exceptional nutritional as well as a phytochemical profile with good quality proteins. Due to the lack of gluten, these grains can be incorporated in the diet of people suffering from celiac disease. Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting the small intestine of people with genetic susceptibility to gluten-containing cereals. Recent studies have concluded that dietary fibers, vitamins, minerals, phenolics, and other bioactives existing in pseudocereals have the potential to combat chronic ailments such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Due to the presence of bioactives in pseudocereals, these have wide potential to be incorporated in various processed functional foods. Therefore, the commercialization of pseudocereals incorporated functional foods would be helpful not only to celiac patients but also for individuals suffering from numerous lifestyle diseases. Several studies have reported that there is an increasing interest in research and development activities to explore these neglected crops. There is an urgent need to develop a multidisciplinary approach that involves many stakeholders to review and accelerate the domestication of these crops. This review aims at the exploration of nutritional quality, bioactive potential, processing aspects, and health benefits of these underutilized but nutritious grains.