HUMBLE TORTILLA
For thousands of years giving it the name "pellagra" (from the Latin pellis, "skin" and
the inhabitants of an-
cient Mexico were free
of a vitamin deficiency
disease known as
pellagra. Whether they
acquired this know-
ledge by chance or by
intent is not known. But
the fact remains that
even now pellagra
does not exist in Mex-
ico.
This is especially notable since pellagra has been found to
result, in some cases, from a diet high in corn, a Mexican
staple for thousands of years. Small fossilized corn cobs have
been found in a cave in the Valley of Tehuacan, Puebla. Sub-
jected to the carbon-14 dating process, they proved to be
approximately 15,000 years old.
These small corn cobs probably came from the teocintle,
Náhuatl for "wild corn plant." Over the centuries, probably by
mutation and cross-pollination, present-day corn with its long
cob and large kernels was developed. This grain was such an
important part of the diet of the Mayans that one of their myths
asserts that man himself was created from an ear of corn.
The discovery of corn as a food was important in transforming
the indigenous tribes from nomads into sedentary cultivators of
food crops. Corn may, indeed, have contributed to the even-
tual development of the magnificent pre-Columbian civiliza-
tions.
This possibility is illustrated by paintings found on the walls of
one of the palaces excavated on the site of the ancient city of
Teotihuacan, north of México City. They depict Tláloc, god of
rain, sowing kernels of corn as a gift of the gods to man.
Corn supplies many important components necessary for a
balanced diet: sugar (corn is rich in starches), polyunsaturated
oil (low in cholesterol) and almost all of the amino acids con-
tained in animal protein. Thanks to the eminent Mexican scien-
tist G. Massieu, it was found that corn is low only in the amino
acids tryptophan and lysine.
When the white man "discovered" the Americas, he also dis-
covered corn, which he took back to Europe. However, when-
ever non-Indians ate corn in large amounts, they became sick.
Their skin cracked and they developed open sores which be-
came infected, causing much suffering and eventual death.
In 1735, renowned physician of the court of Spain, Gaspar
Casals, defined this disease and described its characteristics,
acre, "seizure"). The plague affected northern Italy, France,
New York and Massachusetts, where the settlers had learned
to cultivate corn from the Indians. In later years, pellagra
spread to the southern part of the United States, where corn
bread and hominy grits (a corn product) had become favorite
foods. Pellagra was not associated with the eating of corn as a
diet staple. After all, the indigenous people ate almost nothing
but corn, and they didn't have pellagra.
In 1925, Joseph Goldberger demonstrated that pellagra was
caused by a vitamin deficiency, and later, in 1938, C.A. Elveh-
jem established the relationship between pellagra and canine
black tongue, also caused by vitamin deficiency, and the cura-
tive effect on them of liver extract, which contains nicotina-
mide, a derivative nicotinic acid (niacin).
Then, during research at the National Nutrition Institute (INN)
in 1950, Rene Cravioto and his collaborators found that corn
contains at least 2 milligrams of nicotinic acid per 100 grams.
The acid is a form of vitamin obtained from nicotine by an
oxidation process involving the addition of nitric acid. Nicotinic
acid cannot be extracted from tobacco by smoking it or chew-
ing it nor can it be separated from corn during digestion, it is
eliminated from the body without having been utilized. Howev-
er, it can be liberated by hydrolyzing corn kernels in a hot
alkaline solution.
The pre-Hispanic people of Mesoamerica prepared their corn
by boiling it with lime obtained from burning seashells, forming
dough from which tortillas were made. This traditional process
was called nixtamal in Náhuatl, the language of the Aztecs.
The dough is still used today to make such staples of Mexican
cuisine as tacos, tostadas, atole (a kind of drink) and the ever
popular tamale, whose Nahuatl name tamalli was derived from
nixtamal. It seems unlikely that the Mayas or the Aztecs knew
that by using lime water they were releasing nicotinic acid from
their corn and thus preventing pellagra. It is more likely that
they discovered that the lime water served to give the dough a
malleable texture so that it could be formed into tortillas. Thus,
by a kind of serendipity, they saved their descendants from the
scourge of pellagra, for not one case has ever been reported
in Mexico.
The old practice has not been lost on modern Mexican gov-
ernments. In 1952, the government of Mexico obtained a pa-
tent on an industrial process for preparing corn in lime water
commercially and is still receiving royalties on a technique
basically worked out by Mexico’s Mayas forebears. Large
international companies such as Quaker Oats pay the royalties
and use the patent to manufacture corn products. Pellagra is
no longer widespread.
I. RESPONDE A LAS PREGUNTAS

1. ¿Cuándo ha habido pelagra en México?

2. ¿Por qué se sabe que los indígenas comían maíz?

3. ¿En qué lugar se utilizó el término pelagra por primera vez?

II. MENCIONA SI LOS ENUNCIADOS SON FALSOS O VERDADEROS

4. El descubrimiento del maíz contribuyó al desarrollo de los mayas en la época

________ prehispánica.

5. ________ Los indígenas ofrendaban maíz a sus dioses.

6. ________ El maíz llegó a Europa después del descubrimiento de América.

Gaspar Casal demostró que una deficiencia vitamínica era la causa de la pe-
7. ________ lagra.

8. ________ Joseph Goldberg dijo que la pelagra era propia de los fumadores.

9. René Cravioto y sus colaboradores descubrieron que los pueblos prehispáni-

________
cos preparaban el maíz hirviéndolo con cal.

Los mayas y los aztecas sabían que al utilizar agua de cal evitaban contraer la
10. ________ pelagra.

El gobierno de México recibe regalías por patente del proceso de elaboración

11. ________ del nixtamal.

III. DE ACUERDO AL TEXTO, MENCIONA EL SIGNIFICADO DE LAS SIGUIENTES PALABRAS

12. Staple 13. Cobs

14. Wild 15. Kernels

16. Crops 17. Sowing

18. Became Sick 19. Settlers

20. Unlikely 21. Serendipity