Are you one of the many who loves eating their steak, mashed potatoes, salad, and gravy with a cob of sweet corn? You may eat it from the cob or have it in a cup with some cheese, salt, and pepper.
Either way, you must know something about corn since this ingredient is found in nearly 90 percent of all food products consumed around the world, especially in America.
For example, breakfast cereals, fries, puddings or desserts, mayo and dressings, chicken nuggets, cookies, savory snacks, sweeteners in sodas, ketchup, and a lot more products, they all contain corn.
But, the assumption that it’s “natural” has led to excessive consumption of corn, even though consuming it in high amounts has negative effects on our health.
Nutrition Facts about Corn
The omega-3 fatty acids in corn help control and boost our hormones with anti-inflammatory properties. However, corn also contains omega-6 fatty acids which produce pro-inflammatory hormones (hormones that cause inflammation.)
Another fact is that there are more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s in corn.
Having such a ratio of saturated fats helps our body lose control over its reactions to the inflammatory process. This, in turn, leads to different health problems like immunity disorders, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Also, it can even contribute to the development of asthma, heart disease, cancer, and depression.
Reasons to Stop Eating Corn
1. Unhealthy Grain
Even though corn is a grain, it contains abundant amounts of starch and sugar. So, it’s practically an unhealthy grain with almost no nutritional value.
2. An Immunity Interrupter
When the body is trying to process gluten-free corn, it confuses its proteins with gluten. This wreaks havoc on your immune system. Also, corn can affect your gut walls and damage your digestive system.
Moreover, corn has high glycemic content which converts to sugar easily. This, in turn, disrupts the insulin response in the body and weakens your immune system.
3. Indigestible
Have you ever wondered why the corn’s yellow chunks appear in your stool? This is because corn contains the indigestible compound cellulose.
Even though it’s mostly consisted of starch, fiber, and prolamins (proteins found in all grains), it’s surrounded by a cellulose husk which is completely indigestible to our digestive system. Over time, this can result in constipation or a leaky gut.
4. Gut Inflammation
Our bodies don’t have enzymes that can break down the lectins (hardy proteins) from corn. The result is an irritated gut lining which leads to inflammation.
5. Possesses Pesticides:
A group of Canadian researchers conducted a study in 2011 which discovered that corn contains many harmful and artificial chemicals like Bacillus thuringiensis or more known as BT pesticide.
This toxic chemical can accumulate in the blood and affect the function of our internal organs. Over time it can lead to serious health problems.
6. A GMO Product
Corn is one of the first GM plants which continues to be artificially changed into even more unhealthy products. One research published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences studies the effect of GM foods on mammals’ health.
The results showed that GM corn from Monsanto can damage the rats’ organs.
Since about 85 percent of US corn is genetically modified, it’s probably time to start avoiding it.
Source Cure Joy | Boldsky | Science Focus; Image Source Boldsky