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Study of the Potassium Content in Amaranth Protein Using the Gamma Spectrometry Technique



Author(s)

Carmen Ángeles Galloso¹, Laura Vargas-Ulloa², Guillermo Espinosa-García¹ and Manuel Soriano-García²

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DOI:10.17265/2161-6221/2019.3-4.002

1. Physics Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Mexico City 04520, Mexico
2. Chemistry Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico

Amaranthus is a dicotyledonous pseudocereal and one of the new world’s oldest crops, having originated from Meso-America and was a major food crop of the Aztecs. Popularity in the cultivation and consumption of Amaranthus seed in the modern era began in the mid-1970s with the rediscovery and promotion of amaranth due to its superior nutritional attributes as compared to cereal grains. Amaranth plant has a high-quality protein, carbohydrates, unsaturated oil, squalene, dietary fiber, tocopherols, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals. The amaranth’s grain was collected at San Martin Pahuacan, Estado de Mexico, Mexico. The used methodology is gamma spectrometry with Hyperpure Germanium detector (HPGe) and Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) with Maestro^® software. The result shows a unique concentration of radioactive potassium content in the amaranth protein isolated from amaranth grains is 424.1 mg/100 g of amaranth protein. There is an excellent agreement between the amount of potassium determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy in our laboratory and the value obtained in this work using the Gamma Spectrometry Technique.

Potassium, amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus), gamma spectrometry, K-40, HPGe.