Nixtamalization is unquestionably a good thing. Without it
…maize is a much less beneficial foodstuff, and malnutrition struck many areas where it became a dominant food crop. In the nineteenth century, pellagra epidemics were recorded in France, Italy, and Egypt, and kwashiorkor hit parts of Africa where maize had become a dietary staple.
So the question is, why hasn’t alkaline processing been introduced to Africa? Or perhaps it has, and my ignorance is showing again; but if so, why hasn’t it been widely adopted? Ideas, anyone?
I think this is an extremely good question.
A first guess is of course that nixtamalization did simply not diffuse along with the seeds upon entering Africa from the Americas. This is what Wikipedia says: “Adoption of the nixtamalization process did not accompany the grain to Europe and beyond, perhaps because the Europeans already had more efficient milling processes for hulling grain mechanically.”
Milling lacks the beneficial effects as nixtamalizacion (alkaline processing). The latest discovery is that it also helps to reduce the mycotoxin contents of maize affected by Fusarium (the Wikipedia article is quite up to date on this!).
But in Africa alkaline processing is done for other foodstuffs.
Alkaline processing with alkaline rock in Eastern Africa may have detrimental effects on health, due to the high fluoride contents of the alkali used.
Definitely a question worth further investigation, especially since we now know the story on mycotoxins.
Fermentation and addition of lactic acid to maize also releases nutrients such as iron, without addition of fluoride. I covered it briefly in a post, because a friend of mine did the work. She tested traditional methods of preparing maize to see which had the greatest positive effect on iron bioavailability. You can find her paper here. I’m happy to say that I took over some of Amy’s iron bioavilability related projects after she earned her doctorate.
Jacob, I too am impressed that the Wikipedia article considers mycotoxins, something that many people in Western countries forget when discussing food storage and prep.