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Technological and Nutritional Properties of Flours and Tortillas from Nixtamalized and Extruded Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L.)

¹Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Doctorado en Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, México. ²Maestría en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, México. ³Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Doctorado en Biotecnología, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, México. ⁴Centro de Investigaciones Regionales del Noroeste, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Valle de Culiacán, Sinaloa, México. ⁵Unidad Irapuato, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados–Instituto Politécnico Nacional. ⁶Corresponding author. E-mail: creyes@uas.uasnet.mx

Nixtamalized and extruded flours from quality protein maize (QPM, V-537C) and tortillas made from them were evaluated for some technological and nutritional properties and compared with the commercial brand MASECA. Both QPM flours showed higher (P < 0.05) protein content, total color difference, pH, available lysine, and lower (P < 0.05) total starch content, Hunter L value, water absorption index, gelatinization enthalpy, resistant starch, and retrograded resistant starch than nixtamalized MASECA flour. Tortillas from nixtamalized and extruded QPM flours had higher contents of essential amino acids than tortillas from MASECA flour, except for leucine. Tortillas from processed QPM flours also showed higher (P < 0.05) values of the nutritional indicators calculated protein efficiency ratio (C-PER 1.80–1.85 vs. 1.04), apparent and true in vivo protein digestibility (78.4-79.1 vs. 75.6% and 76.4–77.4 vs. 74.2%, respectively), PER (2.30–2.43 vs. 1.31), net protein retention (NPR; 2.88–2.89 vs. 2.11), and protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS; 54–55 vs. 29% based on preschool children and 100 vs. 85% based on adults) than MASECA flour. The use of QPM for flour and tortilla preparation may have a positive effect on the nutritional status of people from countries where these products are widely consumed.