Prophylactic components of buckwheat

Buckwheat has been grown for centuries and now it is one of the most important alternative crops and a valuable raw material for functional food production. Many nutraceutical compounds exist in buckwheat seeds and other tissues. It is a rich source of starch and contains many valuable compounds, such as proteins, antioxidative substances, trace elements and dietary fibre. Buckwheat proteins have unique amino acids composition with special biological activities. Besides high-quality proteins, buckwheat seed contain several components with healing benefits: flavonoids and flavones, phytosterols, fagopyrins and thiamin-binding proteins. The allergenic proteins and their derivatives are also present in the buckwheat seeds. For the food industry, the most attractive trend is development of new functional foods, but production of health benefit products has also perspective. In this review we focus on knowledge of protein composition and the other prophylactic compounds of buckwheat products. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.