Who doesn’t love a cob of sweet corn to go with their steak, salad, mashed potatoes, and gravy? Corn is one of the things we love munching on from the cob or in a cup with some salt, pepper, and cheese. However, corn is used to make various other foods and products, and can be found in almost 90% of the foods eaten all around the world, especially in the US.
The fries, chicken nuggets, mayo and dressings, breakfast cereals, puddings or desserts, savory snacks, cookies, ketchup, sweeteners in sodas, and more all have corn, even the ones you’d least expect to find it in.
However, since it is considered “natural” it is consumed excessively and eating such high amounts does take a damaging toll on our health.
What Is Corn Made Of?
Corn is said to have both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids help control and infuse our hormones with anti-inflammatory qualities, while omega-6 fatty acids generate hormones which cause inflammation. In corn, however, the amount of omega-6 is MORE than the amount of omega-3. 1
With one of the worst ratios of saturated fats, our body ends up losing control over its responses to that inflammation. This then causes various health issues such as diabetes, immunity disorders, high cholesterol levels, heart disease, asthma, depression, and even cancer.
Why You Should Never Eat Corn Again?
1. Grainy Truths:
Corn may be a grain but it is an unhealthy one, because its high sugar and starch content have close to no nutritional value.
2. An Immunity Interrupter:
Corn does not contain gluten, but when your body tries to process it, it confuses the proteins of corn with gluten, which further bewilders your immune system. Likewise, it is said to interfere with the walls of your guts and severely damage your digestive system. The high glycemic content of corn gets converted to sugar easily and disrupts your body’s insulin responses as well, which all collectively weaken your immunity.
3. Utterly Indigestible:
The sweet little yellow chunks of corn are said to be amazing for us, but ever wonder why they show up as it is when you poop? Corn’s indigestible quality is because of its high amount of fiber, cellulose, and a series of proteins called prolamins (found in all grains), which our digestive systems are not equipped to break down because we lack an effective enzyme to digest it thoroughly. This can lead to conditions like leaky gut or even constipation.
4. Inflames Your Insides:
Corn has class A proteins called lectins which our bodies break down into amino acids during digestion. However, since we lack the needed enzymes to break down lectins, the body’s constant churning of the corn makes it weaker and irritates the gut lining hence causing inflammation.
5. Possesses Pesticides:
A 2011 Canadian study presented findings where it showed that corn contains an insecticide called BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) and other harmful poisons, which are artificial chemicals and not organic. The BT toxin is said to pile up in our blood and can eventually interfere with the proper functioning of our organs, resulting in serious long-term health issues.
6. Genetically Modified Organism (GMO):
As one of the very first plants that was genetically modified (GM) and continues to be artificially evolved into different varieties, it becomes even more unhealthy to corn than it ever was. The International Journal of Biological Sciences wanted to study the effects of genetically modified foods on the health of mammals. Although around 85% of American corn is genetically modified, the study results showed that the GM corn of the agricultural tycoon called Monsanto, caused organ damage in the lab rats it was tested on.
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