
Corn is sweet and delicious, so it’s easy to assume that it isn’t a particularly healthy choice. You may have even heard that it offers few nutrients, is high in sugar, and that we can’t digest it anyway. But, the internet is full of every claim imaginable and only some of them are true. What about corn then? Is corn good for you?
Well, first things first, we’re talking about corn itself here, not products made using corn flour or high fructose corn syrup. Those products lack many of the benefits that you find with fresh corn. Besides, anything highly processed is rarely ever as healthy as something straight from nature.
Also, as you can probably guess. Corn does have a decent amount going for it. It might not be the most nutritious food out there, but it’s not horrible either.
Is Corn Good For You?
- Corn Nutrition
- Benefits Of Corn
- How Corn Could Be Harmful
- Is Corn Low FODMAP?
- Is Canned Corn Good For You?
- Is Undigested Corn A Problem?
- Types Of Corn
- Is Corn Genetically Modified?
- What About High Fructose Corn Syrup?
- Final Thoughts
Corn Nutrition

The nutrients in corn vary somewhat depending on the type and how the corn is cooked. For a medium ear of cooked sweet yellow corn, you’re looking at this nutrient profile:
- Calories: 111
- Carbs: 25.9 grams
- Fiber: 2.9 grams
- Sugars: 3.3 grams
- Fat: 1.3 grams
- Protein: 3.4 grams
- Thiamine: 15% of your daily needs
- Folate: 12% of your daily needs
- Vitamin C: 11% of your daily needs
Other interesting nutrients include magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, niacin, and vitamin B6, but you’re getting less than 10% of your daily needs for each of them.
As you can see from these numbers, corn isn’t an amazing source of nutrients. It’s certainly not as nutrient dense as ingredients like spinach or sardines.
Still, we can’t write corn off just yet. Every little bit helps when it comes to nutrients. For example, the vitamin C in corn helps with cell repair and your immune system. The folate is highly relevant to pregnant women, while thiamine is a B vitamin that’s important for your energy metabolism.
Benefits Of Corn
Can Help With Digestion
Corn is surprisingly useful for your digestion, partly because of its fiber content. There’s a decent amount of insoluble fiber present, which our body can’t digest. Don’t worry though, the fact that we can’t digest this fiber is actually helpful, as it ends up bulking out our stools and keeping us regular.
Offers Antioxidants

Corn isn’t famous for antioxidants, but it contains more antioxidants than other common grains, making it a useful choice. Many of these antioxidants have other roles in the body too, like the way that vitamin C is an antioxidant and is also strongly associated with your immune system.
Let’s talk about antioxidants for a moment.
They’ve become famous in recent years, as a way to decrease high levels of oxidation and protect against disease. We now know that antioxidant rich diets tend to be healthy ones, keeping us fit and well throughout our lives.
However, nothing is ever as simple as that. Foods always contain a large array of compounds and each of these has many effects in our body. Some help us. Some cause harm. And many have different effects depending on the context.
We now know that antioxidants work best when there are many different types present (which is why antioxidant supplements are often counterproductive). This means you shouldn’t just focus on a couple of antioxidant rich foods, like blueberries. Instead, you’ll see the most benefits by eating plenty of fresh foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.
Contains Lutein And Zeaxanthin
Lutein and zeaxanthin are two antioxidants present in corn. Like many antioxidants, these compounds play a variety of roles. In particular, these two have been strongly associated with eye health.
Studies even show that these antioxidants can reduce the risk of some eye diseases, particularly age-related macular degeneration. While lutein and zeaxanthin won’t actually help you to see better, sorry, their ability to protect your eyes is incredibly helpful.
Corn Is A Whole Grain
While grains are controversial these days, plenty of studies show that diets rich in whole grains lead to many health benefits, like decreasing your risk of heart disease, improving your digestion, and helping you to live longer. Corn is useful here, as it is a whole grain, one that is easy to eat and tastes good too.
Plus, corn is naturally gluten free. This makes it ideal if you want the benefits of grains but are sensitive to gluten.
Corn Products Are Often Healthier Than Flour-Based Ones

This most is mostly focusing on corn itself, rather than products made from corn. However, it’s worth mentioning that corn products are often much healthier than ones made with processed white flour (like corn tortillas versus flour ones).
This is because white flour is highly refined and most of the nutrients from the wheat are stripped away. Flour also contains a decent amount of gluten, making it a poor choice for anyone who is sensitive to gluten.
Corn-based products tend to rely on the entire grain instead and they’re naturally gluten free.
How Corn Could Be Harmful
Relatively High In Carbs
Corn contains a decent number of carbs per serving, to the extent that keto dieters often need to cut it out entirely.
Carbs are interesting, as there’s so much debate about whether they’re good for you or not. Mainstream health advice suggests that whole foods offer more benefits than risks, even when they’re high in carbs. This is particularly true for whole grain foods, which offer complex carbs. Corn might be higher in sugar than some other whole grains, but it’s still helpful.
Contrast this to the view of many keto and low carb dieters, who feel that it’s much better to keep your carb intake low. One reason is that even so-called good carbs will still influence your blood sugar levels, an effect that could increase inflammation and lead to higher disease risk.
If you are worried about carbs, for any reason, then corn is going to be a problem. You might be able to eat some, but you’ll need to keep a close eye on your quantities to make sure that you don’t overdo it.
Corn Is Still A Type Of Grain

Earlier on, we talked about how corn is a whole grain, which can be seen as a good thing. However, that strongly depends on how you feel about grains. Some people feel that grains are an unhealthy choice, even whole grains that haven’t been refined.
There are a few reasons for this.
One is the carb content, as grains are often relatively high in carbs, so they’ll influence your blood sugar levels. Whole grain foods tend to do so less than foods made using refined grains, but there is still some blood sugar effect either way.
Another is the way that grains are grown and the selection processes that occur over generations. Such patterns may mean that grains may become less healthy over time and that we’re consuming unexpected and poorly understood chemicals at the same time as our grains.
Many people are sensitive to gluten too, which means they need to avoid wheat and other gluten containing grains. Sensitivities don’t end with gluten either, as some people find that they still get side effects even from gluten free grains.
As grains go, corn is a pretty good one. Still, you’ll need to decide for yourself whether you want to include it in your diet or not.
Can Spike Blood Sugar Levels
Corn is a starchy food that’s relatively high in sugar and carbs. There’s a decent amount of fiber present too, but this isn’t enough to stop corn from spiking your blood sugar. Such blood sugar spikes can be a serious problem for diabetics, making it harder to manage the condition and increasing the risk of complications.
Blood sugar spikes can also play havoc with your energy levels and hunger, making it more difficult to keep to a diet plan.
Could Promote Weight Gain

There’s also the risk that corn leads to weight gain. This isn’t so surprising, as corn is a starchy vegetable that contains a decent amount of sugar. While eating plenty of fruits and vegetables tends to be linked to weight loss, diets rich in starchy vegetables often lead to weight gain instead.
Don’t forget that we often serve corn absolutely covered in butter, which dramatically increases the calorie content. You might easily go over a healthy serving size too, especially if you’re having corn on the cob during Thanksgiving.
Is Corn Low FODMAP?
FODMAPs are another important area to talk about. The acronym refers to a collection of fermentable carbs, ones that are known to cause significant side effects for IBS sufferers and some other people.
Basically, the FODMAPs can ferment in your gut, releasing gas, and causing problems like bloating and diarrhea. If you are sensitive, it’s often best to cut down your FODMAP intake and focus on low FODMAP foods instead, ones that are much less likely to give you side effects.
Corn is an interesting case. It contains sorbitol, which is a FODMAP, but small servings of corn can be low FODMAP.
For sweetcorn, half an ear or so is low enough in FODMAPs for most people, while a full ear is high FODMAP. You’ll need to stick to a similar serving size for canned and frozen corn too. Creamed corn, on the other hand, is higher in FODMAPs still and may need to be avoided entirely.
Products made using corn flour, like corn tortillas, cornmeal, and even corn pasta are completely fine for IBS sufferers, as they tend to be higher in starch and contain less sorbitol. Just make sure that you’re not having high FODMAP foods at the same time.
Also, popcorn is a low FODMAP snack, partly because it’s made from a different type of corn. The low FODMAP serving here is actually an impressive seven cups, which is more than you’re likely to need.
Is Canned Corn Good For You?
Canned food always sounds much less healthy than fresh, but often this isn’t true at all. For one thing, canned fruits and vegetables tend to be processed shortly after harvest, so they retain most of their nutrients.
In contrast, the corn you find at the grocery store has been transported many times and has been sitting around as well. This means that fresh corn often isn’t as fresh and nutritious as you assume.
What’s more, canned corn can also be delicious. It can even taste almost as good as the fresh version, as long as you choose the product carefully. Look for versions that use barely any ingredients – just corn, water, and salt. Nothing more is needed.
As for health. The simple answer is yes, canned corn is good for you. It contains plenty of nutrients and fiber, just like the fresh version. Some nutrients are lost in the canning process too, but a decent amount remains.
Here’s something else interesting – canned corn actually has stronger antioxidant activity than the fresh stuff, largely because antioxidant activity of ferulic acid increases dramatically when corn is canned. So, you’re not missing out on antioxidants just because you’re relying on canned corn.
That said, it’s best to look for low sodium canned corn whenever you can. After all, most of us are consuming more sodium than we need already, adding more to our diet isn’t helpful at all.
What About BPA?
There is one area of concern with canned corn, the potential for BPA to leach from the can into your food. BPA is controversial – and that’s putting it mildly. Many people are concerned about the health risks of BPA, especially as some studies show negative health outcomes at apparently safe levels of BPA.
The topic is a particular problem for corn, as canned corn and peas tend to be particularly high in BPA. Thankfully, companies are catching onto the concern about BPA and many don’t use it at all anymore. Keep an eye out for BPA-free cans to help you avoid the issue entirely.
Is Undigested Corn A Problem?

You might notice undigested corn in your stool. This isn’t as bad as it seems, as the outer shell of corn is made of cellulose and our bodies can’t break this down, so it gets expelled as-is.
The inside of corn is a different story. This contains plenty of things that we can digest. So, as long as you’re chewing your corn, any undigested material is likely to just be the outer shell.
Types Of Corn
We’ve mostly been focusing on sweet corn, which is the type that you find served on the cob or in a can. This type of corn tends to be harvested while it’s still immature, which is one reason why it’s sweet and creamy. You’ll often find sweet corn frozen or canned, as the corn doesn’t keep well when it’s fresh.
There are other types of corn too, each with its own features.
- Dent corn, also called feed corn. This type of corn is characterized by an indentation on the corn kernels. It is used to create corn flour and high fructose corn syrup, and is a common choice for animal feed.
- Popcorn comes from a different type of corn to sweet corn. It can actually be better for you than sweet form, as it contains fewer carbs and plenty of fiber.
- Flint corn is brightly colored and we use it for decoration most of the time. However, if the kernels are heated, they will pop like popcorn. It’s also possible to create cornmeal by grinding the kernels.
- Flour corn. This type of corn has kernels made from soft starch, so they can be easily ground to make flour.
Is Corn Genetically Modified?
Discussions of corn sometimes focus on the concerning fact that up to 92% of the corn in the United States is genetically engineered. If you’re worried about genetically modified foods, then this is a scary figure.
But, what that number ignores entirely is the different types of corn. Most of the corn grown in the United States is used as animal feed or to create high fructose corn syrup. A much smaller amount is the sweet corn that we eat regularly.
In practice, sweet corn itself is rarely genetically modified, so you’re not likely to see genetically modified corn on your dinner table.
What About High Fructose Corn Syrup?
Corn is sometimes seen in a bad light because of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is a refined sugar that’s added to many processed foods. As the name suggests, HFCS is derived from corn and contains more fructose than regular sugar.
HFCS isn’t good for you at all. It adds far too much fructose into your diet, can increase inflammation, easily leads to obesity, and increases the risk of diabetes. There aren’t any health benefits either.
Corn isn’t the same thing at all. Corn is a natural product that contains nutrients and fiber. It has some sugar, true, but that’s hardly unusual and isn’t a problem. HFCS is so far removed from corn that none of the complaints about that additive are at all relevant to corn itself.
Final Thoughts
Nutritionally speaking, corn isn’t amazing. It is relatively high in sugar and carbs, and is much less nutrient dense than many other vegetables. Even so, there are some benefits. The fiber helps with your digestion, while the antioxidants could promote your health in a variety of ways.
Besides, corn doesn’t need to be a perfect food. There are enough good features for you to include it in your diet regularly, especially if you love the flavor. The trick is to pay attention to your portion sizes and make sure that you don’t load your corn up with too much butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Corn Keto?
Corn is fairly high in carbs, making it a poor choice for keto dieters. In fact, a whole ear of corn contains somewhere from 27 to 40 grams of carbs (depending on the size and type), which is far too much.
If you really wanted to use corn, you’d need to find a recipe that uses small amounts of corn, like this Low Carb Mexican Street Corn Salad from thatlowcarblife.com. Recipes like this still give you some of the flavor and texture of corn, yet keep the carb content relatively low.
Is Corn Gluten Free?
While corn is a type of grain, it’s also naturally gluten free, making it a viable ingredient if you’re gluten intolerant. However, it’s important to be cautious with the products you choose, as some corn products may include gluten containing ingredients.
You will sometimes see the term ‘corn gluten’ on the label of products made using corn. This is a reference to one of the proteins in corn, but isn’t something to worry about – as the protein isn’t the same as regular gluten and shouldn’t give you any negative reactions.
Is Corn A Vegetable?
Botanically, corn is classified as a fruit. Specifically, it’s a type of fruit called caryopsis, as each fruit has a single seed that is tightly joined to the flesh.
That’s not the end of it though. Corn is also classified as a grain and a vegetable because of how we use it. It’s normally seen as a vegetable when we’re eating fresh young corn or including it in our meals.
When corn is older and more processed, it’s normally considered a grain instead. You’ll see it used as an ingredient in many processed foods and can buy it in forms like corn flour as well.
Is Corn Good For Weight Loss?
In many ways, yes, corn is a good tool for weight loss. After all, it’s a nutritious vegetable that isn’t too high in calories. Corn is also a great source of fiber, which helps with your gut health and keeps you satisfied – effects that are both fantastic for weight loss.
However, these patterns just apply to fresh corn. When used in processed products, corn could easily promote weight gain instead, particularly if it’s in the form of high fructose corn syrup.
Is Corn Good For Diabetics?
Diabetics can eat corn, as it’s nutritious, high in fiber, and provides many benefits. It’s important to be cautious though, as corn is a starchy vegetable and can easily spike blood sugar. Because of this, it’s best to stick to small quantities of corn and include corn with lower G.I. ingredients as part of a full meal.
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