Question for a nutritionist

[Amish Country]

Question for a nutritionist

I talked with one of my Amish neighbors and she shared with me that her parents had eaten corn meal mush during hard times and had trouble with bleeding gums. That to me (who has no formal medical training) sounds like a possible vitamin deficiency. I remember reading somewhere that some native American Indian tribes traditionally put a little hard wood ash in with the ground corn as they cooked it. According to that long lost article this was supposed to allow for the release of additional vitamins. Is this also why the list of ingredients on the bag of Instant Corn Masa Flour states that it is corn treated with lime?

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Question for a nutritionist

. . . According to that long lost article this was supposed to allow for the release of additional vitamins. Is this also why the list of ingredients on the bag of Instant Corn Masa Flour states that it is corn treated with lime?

See Nixtamalization (derived from a Nahuatl word that is a compound of nextli "ashes" and tamalli "unformed corn dough or tamal").

The ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations developed nixtamalization using lime (calcium hydroxide, not the citrus fruit of the same name) and ash (potassium hydroxide) to create alkaline solutions. The Chibcha people to the north of the ancient Inca also used calcium hydroxide (also known as "cal"), while the tribes of North America used natural-occurring sodium carbonate or ash.

The nixtamalization process was very important in the early Mesoamerican diet, as unprocessed maize is deficient in free niacin. A population depending on untreated maize as a staple food risks malnourishment, and is more likely to develop deficiency diseases such as pellagra. Maize also is deficient in essential amino acids, which can result in kwashiorkor. Maize cooked with lime provided niacin in this diet. Beans, when consumed with the maize, provided the amino acids required to balance the diet for protein.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization