Corn Chips
Food · Grain · Food, Typed Supps
Fried nixtamalised maize and salt — more fibre than a potato crisp, and roughly the same amount of salt.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Surface salt): Salt applied to the outside dissolves instantly in saliva, which is what drives the palatability.
- Digestion (Gelatinised starch): Fried, fully gelatinised maize starch is digested rapidly, though the fat slows stomach emptying.
- Absorption (Fat, sodium, calcium): Fat and sodium are absorbed here, along with calcium picked up from the lime used to make the masa.
- Response (Sodium load): A 50g serve carries around 210mg sodium, roughly a tenth of the WHO daily limit, and prompts thirst.
Time to effect
- About half an hour: Thirst from the sodium load typically follows within around 30 minutes.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Gluten, Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP, Gluten-free.
Satiety
82 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — low. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
1.7 kg CO2e and 216 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Maize" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £2.5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 491
- Protein: 7.5g
- Carbohydrate: 56g
- of which sugars: 0.6g
- Fat: 25g
- of which saturated: 5.8g
- Fibre: 5.2g
- Sodium: 420mg
Food vs. supplement
Not applicable. The calcium is a genuine by-product of nixtamalisation, but nobody should be eating corn chips to reach a calcium target.
Kitchen tip
Serving them with a bean dip, guacamole or salsa adds fibre, protein and potassium to a food short on all three, and slows the eating rate — which does more than swapping brands.
Common myth
"Corn chips are the healthier choice because they are corn, not potato." In reality: They do carry a little more fibre and some calcium from the lime used in making the masa. But energy density, fat and sodium sit in the same range as potato crisps — the base ingredient does not change what frying and salting produce.
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