Comparative Mineral Content in Gluten-Free Grain

The effectiveness of treating gluten intolerance directly depends on the patient adherence to a gluten-free diet, which they often violate due to the limited range of recommended foods and dishes. First of all, this applies to children. The development of new types of gluten-free products using non-traditional grain raw materials has become particularly relevant, giving the possibility to expand the diet both in terms of nutritional value and taste diversity. Mainly due to the intake decrease of grain-based products, children are lack of such important minerals as potassium, magnesium, selenium, etc. The mineral elements contained in cereals are important for the growing child body, since they are involved in many important biochemical processes. The article purpose is to determine the minerals (Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Co, Pb, Ni, Mo, Cd, As, Hg) content in buckwheat and amaranth flour, as well as in products obtained from flour mixtures of these cultures. According to the obtained data on the macro-and microelements content in gluten-free products, a significant part of the minerals in the considered flour samples is potassium: 371 mg/100 g – for amaranth flour and 405 mg/100 g – for buckwheat flour. High magnesium content was in buckwheat (239.9 mg/100 g) and amaranth (202.5 mg/100 g) flour. There was a low calcium content in both samples: 69.0 mg/kg in amaranth and 62.0 mg/kg in buckwheat flour. Amaranth flour is superior to buckwheat in the content of trace elements such as copper (319 mcg/100 g), zinc (2495 mcg/100 g) and selenium (515.4 mcg/100 g). Buckwheat flour contains more phosphorus (263.3 mg/100 g), potassium (405.9 mg/100 g), magnesium (239.9 mg/100 g), and copper (334 mcg/100 g) than amaranth flour. According to the results obtained, amaranth and buckwheat flour can be classified as good sources of selenium – 515.4 and 404.0 mcg/100 g, respectively. The mineral substances content in pancakes made from mixtures of amaranth flour and native buckwheat flour decreased within 3.0–23.0 % of their content in the original flour. The calculation of the recommended daily requirement showed that consuming pancakes portion (45 g) by school-age children meet their daily need, %, on average: in magnesium – by 35.3; in potassium – by 9.5; in iron – by 26.4; in copper – by 19.6; in selenium – by 27.7.