The sweet corn thread

miquelangeles

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I did a quick search and couldn't find much talk about sweet corn here.

Are there any downsides to consuming it regularly, assuming it is organic etc?

- high sugar content, naturally occurring mutation
- harvested when immature (milk stage) and consumed as a vegetable
- high in insoluble fiber which does not support bacterial growth and accelerates transit time
- high in many B vitamins
- high in lutein-zeaxanthin (I can see this being controversial here)
 
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I did a quick search and couldn't find much talk about sweet corn here.

Are there any downsides to consuming it regularly, assuming it is organic etc?

- high sugar content, naturally occurring mutation
- harvested when immature (milk stage) and consumed as a vegetable
- high in insoluble fiber which does not support bacterial growth and accelerates transit time
- high in many B vitamins
- high in lutein-zeaxanthin (I can see this being controversial here)
I heard Ray Peat talk about eating only very sweet corn and ONLY in the summer months. He said when it isn't sweet it is starchy. I recently also read this.
 

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miquelangeles

miquelangeles

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Interesting, I only heard him talk about nixtamalized corn tortillas several times but never about sweet corn.

White corn seems to be one of the sweet corn varieties. I think the starch content is negligible because it is harvested in the milk stage when it's mostly sugars and amino acids. I actually find it annoyingly sweet.

From Wikipedia:

sweetcorn.jpg


Also
The total amino acid and sugar contents are two important quality characteristics of sweet corn. At the milk stage, sweet corns have remarkably higher sugar and amino acid contents, particularly that of lysine, than normal field corns [25]. The amino acid composition and total soluble sugar contents of the raw and boiled sweet corn juices are presented in Table 1 and Fig 1, respectively.

From: Nutritional and physicochemical characteristics of purple sweet corn juice before and after boiling

Impressive amount of nutrients in 1 cup of sweet corn with only 132 calories:

sweetcorn_nutrition.jpg


It contains large amounts of cellulose which doesn't promote bacterial growth, so in a way it can act like the carrot salad or mushrooms/bamboo shoots while at the same time providing lots of nutrients.

I guess the only downside is the almost 1 gram of PUFA, and maybe the low Ca/P ratio.
 
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Interesting, I only heard him talk about nixtamalized corn tortillas several times but never about sweet corn.

White corn seems to be one of the sweet corn varieties. I think the starch content is negligible because it is harvested in the milk stage when it's mostly sugars and amino acids. I actually find it annoyingly sweet.

From Wikipedia:

View attachment 26554

Also


Impressive amount of nutrients in 1 cup of sweet corn with only 132 calories:

View attachment 26555

It contains large amounts of cellulose which doesn't promote bacterial growth, so in a way it can act like the carrot salad or mushrooms/bamboo shoots while at the same time providing lots of nutrients.

I guess the only downside is the almost 1 gram of PUFA, and maybe the low Ca/P ratio.
That is all great information, especially the cellulose! I use corn sparingly and only in the summer as Ray Peat suggested, mostly in dishes to add crunch. 1 gram of PUFA can totally be minimized with having a baby aspirine or a drop of vitamin E on the skin around the same time as having the corn. I mean if Ray Peat is minimizing the PUFA in bacon then sweet sugary corn should be nothing to worry about once in awhile.
 
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miquelangeles

miquelangeles

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That is all great information, especially the cellulose! I use corn sparingly and only in the summer as Ray Peat suggested, mostly in dishes to add crunch. 1 gram of PUFA can totally be minimized with having a baby aspirine or a drop of vitamin E on the skin around the same time as having the corn. I mean if Ray Peat is minimizing the PUFA in bacon then sweet sugary corn should be nothing to worry about once in awhile.
I wonder why he said summer only. Maybe he was referring to fresh sweet corn because that's when it is in season?
Fresh corn boiled or roasted is a common street food during summer in many parts of Europe.
But I found the canned one in glass jars equally tasty. The French company D'aucy has a steamed version called "al vapore", which is even better.
Every time I saw corn mentioned in health forums or Facebook groups it was being demonized as being inflammatory, but my experience is completely the opposite.
 
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I wonder why he said summer only. Maybe he was referring to fresh sweet corn because that's when it is in season?
Fresh corn boiled or roasted is a common street food during summer in many parts of Europe.
But I found the canned one in glass jars equally tasty. The French company D'aucy has a steamed version called "al vapore", which is even better.
Every time I saw corn mentioned in health forums or Facebook groups it was being demonized as being inflammatory, but my experience is completely the opposite.

Any produce is best eaten seasonally, when it is intended to grow or fruit. I wish I would have saved that clip on white corn, but I will find it again!
 

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