Low Acrylamide Flatbreads from Colored Corn and Other Flours

Abstract

Dietary acrylamide formed during baking and frying of plant-based foods such as bread and other cereal products, coffee, fried potatoes, and olives is reported to induce genotoxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and antifertility properties in vivo, suggesting the need to keep the acrylamide content low with respect to widely consumed heat-processed food including flatbreads. Due to the fact that pigmented corn flours contain biologically active and health-promoting phenolic and anthocyanin compounds, the objective of this study was to potentially define beneficial properties of flatbread by evaluating the acrylamide content determined by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) with a detection limit of 1.8 µg/kg and proximate composition by standard methods of six experimental flatbreads made from two white, two blue, one red, and one yellow corn flours obtained by milling commercial seeds. Acrylamide content was also determined in experimental flatbreads made from combinations in quinoa flour, wheat flour, and peanut meal with added broccoli or beet vegetables and of commercial flatbreads including tortillas and wraps. Proximate analysis of flatbreads showed significant differences in protein and fat but not in carbohydrate, mineral, and water content. The acrylamide content of 16 evaluated flatbreads ranged from 0 to 49.1 µg/kg, suggesting that these flatbreads have the potential to serve as low-acrylamide functional foods. The dietary significance of the results is discussed.

Reducing Acrylamide Formation Potential by Targeting Free Asparagine Accumulation in Seeds

“…Discovered in 2002 in thermally processed foods, acrylamide (prop-2-enamide) is a white, odorless, and water-soluble powder . It is considered a neuro- and reproductive toxin as well as a group 2A or probable carcinogen. ,, This classification indicates that, although limited evidence of carcinogenicity was found in humans, concrete evidence was found in animals…”

Composition of Flatbreads Prepared from Blue, Red, Yellow, and White Corn Flours Supplemented with Edible Ecklonia cava Algae: Relationship to Health Benefits

“…As part of efforts to create new functional foods that have the potential to ameliorate and treat human diseases, we reported that edible algae (Ecklonia cava) bioprocessed (fermented) in culture with shiitake mushroom mycelia was effective in neutralizing multiple biomarkers associated with allergic asthma in mice [1]. We also published a series of studies on the preparation of experimental, mostly gluten-free, flatbreads with other health benefits, as well as with a low content of the heat-induced toxin acrylamide formed during the baking process [2][3][4][5]. Because edible E. cava algae contain multiple antioxidative polyphenolic compounds that are reported to be safe to consume (discussed below) and to have multiple health benefits in vitro and in vivo (highlighted below), and colored (pigmented) corn flours also contain different health-promoting phenolic compounds and anthocyanins (highlighted below), expectations are that the combination of biologically active compounds present in colored corn flour and the alga might act additively or synergistically against human diseases.…”

“…gValues with different superscript letters differ significantly (p ≤0.05), n=3. Colored corn data from[5].…”

Low Acrylamide Flatbreads Prepared from Colored Rice Flours and Relationship to Asparagine and Proximate Content of Flours and Flatbreads

“…As part of this effort, we previously devised improved thermal processing conditions to reduce acrylamide formation in canned black ripe olives [ 8 ], prepared a set of gluten-free, low-acrylamide commercial and experimental flatbreads [ 9 ], and determined the effects of adding fruit and vegetable peels and mushroom powders to gluten-free experimental flatbreads on their acrylamide contents [ 10 ]. We also reported in this journal on low acrylamide flatbreads prepared from colored corn and other flours [ 11 ].…”