Nutritive Value of the Mexican Tortilla

Cravioto, R. O.; Anderson, Richmond K.; Lockhart, Ernest E.; Miranda, Francisco de P.; Harris, Robert S.

doi:10.1126/science.102.2639.91

Cited by 49 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Consequently, diets deficient in protein or certain vitamins (e.g., vitamin C) can limit the body's access to iron; thus dietary iron deficiency commonly accompanies other types of malnutrition. Some food preparation techniques increase the amount of available iron, such as by adding ash or grinding (Walker, 1985), but the practice of adding calcium, phosphorous, or alkali solutions during food preparation (e.g., soaking maize in lime) will lessen absorption by rendering iron insoluble (Cravioto et al, 1940;Bressani and Scrimshaw, 1958;Stahl, 1989).…”

Section: Dietmentioning

confidence: 98%

Anemia and childhood mortality: Latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru

Blom

Buikstra

Keng

et al. 2005

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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Hrdlicka ([1914] Smithson. Inst. Misc. Collect. 61:1-69) reported that pre-Columbian skeletal material from the coastal lowland Andean region exhibited a high frequency of porotic hyperostosis, a pathological condition of bone that generally is thought to indicate childhood anemia. While subsequent studies tended to reinforce this conclusion, factors implicated in the condition have yet to be fully explored in the region as a whole. This study explores regional and intravalley variation as one step in establishing biocultural variables that increase the apparent risk of childhood anemia. The study sample includes 1,465 individuals: 512 from Peruvian collections housed at the Field Museum of Natural History, and 953 from systematically excavated contexts from Moquegua, Peru. Environmental stressors, such as parasites and disease, rather than specific dietary practices were found to be more likely associated with childhood anemia in these coastal Andean samples. The study supports cribra orbitalia as an earlier expression of porotic hyperostosis and suggests that porotic hyperostosis, as recorded here, cannot be easily dismissed as a result of cranial shape modification. No clear temporal patterns were observed. Finally, the study establishes that comparing data for children and adults can reveal the relative association between childhood anemia and mortality. Childhood mortality associated with anemia was elevated where the presence of tuberculosis or tuberculosis-like conditions was more common and the presence of water-borne pathogens was negligible. In contrast, those buried at lower altitudes, closer to the coast, and consuming mainly marine resources were less likely to die in childhood with anemia than in the other contexts studied.

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Section: Dietmentioning

confidence: 98%

Anemia and childhood mortality: Latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru

Blom

Buikstra

Keng

et al. 2005

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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“…It is instrumental in the break down of the seed coat in maize [7,8], but due to the alkaline pH, lime causes significant losses of carotenoids and B-Vitamins [9,10]. Some studies have shown lime to be useful in the increased bioutilization of niacin [11], and during the process there is a significant increase in Ca content [9,10,12,13], which is highly bioavailable [14][15][16]; it also reduces the levels of Fumonisin [17] and dietary fiber. The ion enters the grain (during cooking and steeping) ending in the region of the germ, which shows increased concentration of Ca at the end of cooking [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Lime and Wood Ash on the Nixtamalization of Maize and Tortilla Chemical and Nutritional Characteristics

Pappa

Palomo

Bressani

2010

Plant Foods Hum Nutr

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The objective of the study was to obtain information on the chemical composition, functional properties, sensory quality and protein value of tortillas made from the nixtamalization of maize using either lime or wood ashes. The Ca, K, Mg, Fe, and Zn content of lime and wood ashes showed lime to be high in Ca content while wood ash contained more K and about 71% of the Ca content of lime. Both contained relatively high levels of Mg, Fe and Zn, but more so in the wood ashes. The level of reagent for nixtamalization was set at 0.8% of the maize weight. All other processing conditions were kept constant. The pH of the cooking solution was 12.0 for lime and 10.9 for wood ash. The moisture content of maize at 60 min of cooking was 45.8% for both treatments, however after 12 h of soaking, moisture level was 51.0% for the lime treatment and only 46.8% for the ash treatment. Solids (2.4%) in the lime cooking liquor were higher than in the wood ash liquor (1.0%). Chemical composition changes were similar between treatments in masa and tortilla; however, both masa and tortillas absorbed relatively high levels of all minerals including Fe and Zn from the wood ash treatment. The different treatment influenced functional properties particularly hardness and color. Tortilla characteristics were also similar. Protein quality of both alkali cooked products was lower than that of raw corn, more so the product from the wood ash treatment. Although some differences were observed in the sensory studies, human subjects did not dislike the wood ash made tortillas.

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“…This increased evidence of anemia is generally attributed to the low iron content of maize and the capacity of the phytic acid it contains to inhibit iron absorption (El-Najar, 1976;Calloway et al, 1974;Davidson and Passmore, 1966. Traditional food preparation techniques such as the use of alkali solutions to make hominy and tortillas increase the calcium content of the diet and may further reduce iron availability (Bressani and Scrimshaw, 1958a,b;Cravioto et al, 1940;Greenhouse, 1981:223). Amino acid deficiencies have also been suggested as possibly contributing to the porotic hyperostosis of maizedependent groups (El-Najjar, 1976;Von Endt and Ortner, 1982).…”

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confidence: 99%

Porotic hyperostosis in a marine‐dependent California Indian population

Walker

1986

American J Phys Anthropol

181

109

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A maize-based iron- and protein-deficient diet is commonly cited as the most important cause of porotic hyperostosis among American Indian agriculturalists. An alternative to this maize dependence hypothesis is suggested by the analysis of 432 crania from the nonagricultural, fish-dependent population of the Channel Island area of southern California. Cribra orbitalia, a form of porotic hyperostosis associated with iron deficiency anemia, is just as common among these fisherpeople, whose diet was rich in iron and essential amino acids, as it is among maize-dependent agriculturalists. Northern Channel Island crania have much more cribra orbitalia than those from the California mainland. The highest incidence is on San Miguel, a small geographically isolated island with a shortage of fresh water and terrestrial resources. The Indians who lived on Santa Cruz, the largest of the northern Channel Islands with the greatest diversity of terrestrial plants and animals, have less cribra orbitalia than those who lived on Santa Rosa or San Miguel Island. This geographical distribution appears to be explained by island-mainland and interisland differences in water contamination, exposure to fish-borne parasites, and nutritional adequacy of the diet. The prevalence of porotic hyperostosis in a population with a heavy dietary dependence on marine resources shows that among prehistoric American Indians, this condition is not always associated with an iron- and protein-deficient diet of cultigens. It seems likely that high nutrient losses associated with diarrheal disease are often more significant in the etiology of porotic hyperostosis than a low dietary intake of essential nutrients.

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Nutritive Value of the Mexican Tortilla

Cited by 49 publications

References 4 publications

Anemia and childhood mortality: Latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru

Anemia and childhood mortality: Latitudinal patterning along the coast of pre-Columbian Peru

Effect of Lime and Wood Ash on the Nixtamalization of Maize and Tortilla Chemical and Nutritional Characteristics

Porotic hyperostosis in a marine‐dependent California Indian population

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