Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, June, 2012
Gunilla Wieslander, Nina Fabjan, Maja Vogrincic, Ivan Kreft
Abstract: Buckwheat is rich in the flavonoid rutin and other compounds beneficial to human health. Buckwheat is used traditionally as a health food in the treatment of different diseases, but there have been few studies of its effects on symptoms and well-being. This study aimed to investigate the effects on general and mucosal symptoms of the consumption of two types or buckwheat: Tartary buckwheat (TBW; Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) and common buckwheat (CBW; F. esculentum Moench). Cookies were produced from both types of buckwheat flour. TBW cookies contained 2,530 mg rutin and 1,620 mg quercetin kg(-1) dry weight (DW). CBW cookies contained less rutin, i.e. 270 mg kg(-1) DW, while quercetin was below the detection limit. A double-blind random crossover study was performed with 62 healthy women. Participants were divided randomly into two groups. The First group consumed four TBW cookies per day (359.7 mg rutin-equivalents day(-1)) whereas the second group consumed four CBW cookies per day (16.5 mg rutin day(-1)), for two weeks. The groups then switched the type of cookies and consumed them for a further two weeks (four cookies daily). We monitored ocular, nasal, and throat symptoms, headache, fatigue, and nausea using symptom scales. Both types of cookies had positive effects on symptoms compared with the baseline. TBW initially reduced fatigue symptoms (p<0.05), although it increased ocular symptoms (p<0.05). In conclusion, buckwheat consumption generally reduced the symptoms analyzed in this study. A daily consumption of 359.7 mg rutin-equivalents day(-1) in the form of TBW cookies reduced fatigue in healthy subjects and it did not increase the levels of symptoms.
KEY TAKEAWAY:
A daily consumption of 359.7 mg rutin-equivalents day in the form of Tartary buckwheat cookies reduced fatigue in healthy subjects
