Impact of cooking and nixtamalization on the bioaccessibility and antioxidant capacity of phenolic compounds from two sorghum varieties

•Nixtamalization significantly reduced condensed tannins from white/red sorghum.•Phenolics from sorghum are significantly absorbed in the small intestine.•The non-digestible fraction of sorghum retains considerably amounts of phenolics.•The antioxidant capacity is governed by condensed tannins/total phenolics.•Permeability coefficients from phenolics are linked to transportation mechanisms. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) has been sparsely used as human food due to certain anti-nutritional factors such as tannins that reduce its digestibility, although the grain is an important source of bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds (PCs). This study aimed to assess the impact of cooking and alkaline cooking (nixtamalization) on the bioaccessibility and antioxidant capacity of PCs of two sorghum varieties (white/red). Nixtamalization was the most effective procedure for the reduction of tannins (74.3%). Gallic acid proved to be the most bioaccessible PC (6359 μg/g). The total phenolics and condensed tannins correlated with the antioxidant capacity (ABTS/DPPH; R2: 0.30–0.43, p