Role of Germinated–Extruded Desi Chickpea Supplementation on Antioxidant and Antidiabetic Compounds In Vitro Bioaccessibility in Functional Blue Corn Tortillas

Corn tortillas are consumed daily in Mexico. Alkaline extrusion is an alternative process that generates nixtamalized tortillas and preserves more bioactive compounds. Chickpea germination-extrusion may enhance the bioactive compound content. The aim was to characterize the physicochemical and antioxidant/antidiabetic properties of functional tortillas of alkaline-extruded blue corn (TC) with germinated (TG) or germinated-extruded (TGE) desi-chickpea. Likewise, the effect of simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGD) on the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds (phenolics, soluble protein, peptides, anthocyanins, and isoflavones) was estimated. Antioxidant capacity/cellular activity was determined by ORAC (AoxC) and in the Caco-2 cell line (CAA), while antidiabetic potential by α-amylase inhibition. The supplementation with processed chickpeas (TG/TGE) increased protein, ash, and isoflavone content (p < 0.05) compared with TC. SGD (%) released (p < 0.05) bioactive compounds from tortillas, and their bioaccessibility was among 34–70%; noticeably low phenolic bioaccessibility in TG/TGE. The AoxC was higher in TG/TGE (p < 0.05) compared with TC; in contrast, CAA was higher in TC, and both increased after SGD. TG depicted the lowest amylase inhibition; after SGD, the IC50 values were 62–72-fold lower in the digests than in the tortillas. These results suggest that functional tortillas with processed chickpeas enhance nutraceutical potential.