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What is the healthier quinoa (assuming they are different)?

What are the various health benefits of each?

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closed as off topic by Matt Chan Sep 21 '12 at 16:58


Off topic per new FAQ –  Baarn Sep 21 '12 at 15:29

1 Answer 1

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Here are the nutrition facts of red and white quinoa from the same company. The main differences I can see are that red quinoa is slightly lower in total fat, marginally higher in sodium, fiber, sugar, and protein, vitamin E, riboflavin, and folate. Their amino acid profiles are pretty similar (they are both complete proteins).

Just because red quinoa has less fat doesn't make it necessarily healthier (saturated and trans fats are the ones potentially implicated in health problems, and they're the same in both types of quinoa). Foods high in fiber and vitamins promote health, so red quinoa is slightly superior to white quinoa on those fronts. High sodium diets can increase risk of high blood pressure and high sugar diets can increase risk of diabetes, but even though red quinoa has slightly more of both, neither type of quinoa would be considered high in sodium or sugar. If you're a strict vegetarian, red quinoa would be a little better than white to help you meet your protein needs, but meat eaters generally have no trouble meeting their protein requirements.

I'd say red quinoa is marginally healthier, but really, if you like white quinoa better, they're about the same.

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Funny, I went to Nutrition Data, which I usually find thorough, and they only cover quinoa generically. nutritiondata.self.com –  Salsero69 Mar 30 '11 at 3:52
That was the first place I looked too. I assumed "quinoa" referred to white quinoa. Maybe red quinoa is too esoteric. NutritionData doesn't have orange bell peppers either. –  Barbie Mar 30 '11 at 4:20
