Effect of processing conditions on the production of nixtamalized corn flours by the traditional method

Nowadays, in Mexico and Latin America, calcium content in the diet is a very important issue. This fact is critical since research studies have shown a relationship between consumption of dietary calcium and chronic degenerative diseases. Deficiencies of calcium in Mexican population involve the search for alternative foods that lead to an increase in the daily calcium intake. In this context, the traditional nixtamalization process is a good option for food processing in order to increase calcium content in foodstuffs. This work focused on the development of an effective methodology to establish the relationships among the processing variables in the production of nixtamalized corn flours by the traditional method. A full compound factorial design was used to determine the effect of some independent variables, involved in the nixtamalization, on the response variables such as (a) Ca +2 content in corn flours, (b) particle size distribution (homogeneity), and (c) average energy consumption during grinding.