**5. Conclusions**

Llayta consumption is a feeding practice with a know-how that has been transmitted through generations in the rural Andean world of South America, without untoward effects on human health. Nevertheless, this ancestral feeding legacy is being lost in young generations from northern Chile. New educational and anthropological strategies must be developed if there is interest in promoting the preservation and value of this traditional feeding practice and cultural legacy.

Llayta is a nutritious dietary ingredient for human consumption. This is supported by the absence of adverse epidemiological evidence, but also with interdisciplinary studies that complement ethnographic records with biochemical information.

Caution on the amount of Llayta consumed daily, based on its arsenic content, must be stressed. However, mass growth of the cyanobacterium isolated from Llayta under controlled conditions would provide arsenic-free biomass for the formulation of new food products. This biotechnological approach would revitalize the use of and add value to this ancestral food ingredient for the benefit of not only Andean communities, but also the whole population of South America and the world.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, B.G.-S. and M.R.; Data curation, M.R. and R.L. Funding acquisition, B.G.-S. and A.G.; Investigation, A.G.; Methodology, M.R.; Supervision, B.G.-S. and A.G.; Validation, R.L.; Writing—original draft, B.G.-S. and M.R.; Writing—review and editing, B.G.-S.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile, gran<sup>t</sup> number SI-5305, and CONICYT-CHILE, gran<sup>t</sup> number CeBiB FB-0001.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank Celedonio Maron Chura, Biblioteca de Antropología Andina (Instituto para el Estudio de la Cultura y Tecnología Andina, Arica, Chile) for his useful comments.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.
