Juscelino Tovar, PhD
Juscelino Tovar, PhD, a researcher on the above-mentioned study and a professor of biochemistry and nutrition at Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.
I yield to no one in my love for Mexican food, but I also know it’s not exactly the healthiest fare. So I was skeptical when I read recently about some nutritional claims for blue tortillas. Supposedly, new research showed that blue tortillas are good for you — and I’d love to have been convinced it’s so. It didn’t happen, but you’d never have guessed that from reading the headlines in the supermarket magazines.
At first, it made sense. As a general rule in the food kingdom, foods that are naturally deep-colored are healthier. The pigments that make blueberries blue and raspberries red come from plant compounds called anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants, protecting the plant — and the people who eat it — from the cellular damage caused by rogue oxygen-containing molecules called free radicals. Therefore it stands to reason that tortillas made from blue corn might indeed be better for you than white ones… but little research has actually been done on pigmented corns and the colorful tortillas made from them.
In the study making so-called news, Juscelino Tovar, PhD, professor of biochemistry and nutrition at Universidad Central de Venezuela, and his research associates in Yautepec (Mexico), analyzed the chemical composition of blue and white corn tortillas, noting the blue ones start with a presumed edge given their color and their possible anthocyanin content. They specifically looked for differences in variables — including protein and starch content and glycemic index. His conclusion: “An important benefit of the blue tortilla is its potential role in preventing or controlling metabolic syndrome.”
The researchers put identical amounts of the two tortillas in test tubes and, by observing the breakdown of the starch by enzymes, were able to predict the glycemic index of both varieties. “The blue tortillas had a glycemic index of 86,” Dr. Tovar told me. “The white tortilla was 98.” Also, the researchers discovered that tortillas made from blue corn contain 20% more protein than their white counterparts. The calories of the two tortillas were the same and of course, the blue ones do have some antioxidants, relative to the paler ones.
So let’s review. Twenty percent more protein sounds substantial, till you look at the actual numbers. One white corn tortilla has 1.5 grams of protein, a tiny amount. A 20% increase brings it up to a still meaningless 1.8 grams. Further, though the glycemic index of the blue tortillas was 12% lower than the white ones, it’s a distinction that makes no difference. On the glycemic index scale used, white bread is 100 and, by any standard, 86 ranks as a high glycemic food.
So are blue tortillas “better” than the white kind? Slightly — but only that. If you’re going to eat them, pile on the salsa and beans. Hands down, that’ll be the healthiest part of the snack or meal.
