Do the anthocyanins in blue tortilla chips survive the baking process in usable form?

Some of the anthocyanins found in blue tortilla chips survive the baking process in usable form and some don’t. In general, whenever you are considering the purchase of a natural food that has not been artificially colored, you can trust the color to indicate the presence of health-supportive phytonutrients. In the case of your blue tortilla chips, the blue color is itself an indication that there are anthocyanins present!

I’ve seen one high-quality research study on tortilla chips of different colors and their phytonutrient content. I’ve also seen studies on other foods that are famous for their rich red or blue colors. These foods include red cabbage, red beets, blue wheat, and red wine. In the case of the tortilla chips, the processing of white, yellow, high-carotenoid yellow, blue, and red corn into tortilla chips always lowers the total amount of phytonutrients present, including anthycyanins. However, there are still valuable amounts of anthocyanins in blue corn, and just as blue corn starts out with more anthocyanins than other varieties of colored corn, it ends up with more anthocyanins as well, even after being processed into tortilla chips.

Exactly how much anthocyanin is lost during processing, however, is a little more complicated to predict. The loss of corn nutrients during the transition from any type of raw corn into corn tortilla chips depends on many factors, including grinding methods, processing steps that involve soaking in solutions of different acidity or alkalinity for varying amounts of time, and baking times and temperatures. I don’t recommend that you worry about all of these details, however. A better approach is to make sure that the amount of calories and fat and other nutrients in your blue tortilla chips fit into your overall diet, and that you purchase high-quality blue tortilla chips, preferably organic!

For more information on this topic, please see:

• Corn

References:

Havlíková L, Míková K. Heat Stability of Anthocyanins.

Journal Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und -Forschung A. 1985. Issue Volume 181, Number 5, pages 427-432. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, Germany.

Dyrby M, Westergaard N, Stapelfeldt H. Light and heat sensitivity of red cabbage extract in soft drink model systems. Food Chemistry. 2001;72(4):431-437.

Abdel-Aal el-SM, Hucl P. Composition and stability of anthocyanins in blue-grained wheat. J Agric Food Chem. 2003;51(8):2174-80