Corn on the cob

h9dlb wrote: »

Full of sugar might as well eat chocolate

Like all cereal grains, corn is primarily composed of carbs.

Starch is the main type of carbs found in corn, making up 28-80% of the dry weight. Corn also contains small amounts of sugar (1-3%) (1, 2).

Sweet corn, also known as sugar corn, is a special low-starch variety (28%) with a higher sugar content (18%), most of which is sucrose (1).

The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly carbs are digested. Foods that rank high on this index may cause an unhealthy spike in blood sugar.

Despite the sugar content of sweet corn, it is not a high-glycemic food, ranking low or medium on the glycemic index (3).

BOTTOM LINE:
Corn is mainly composed of carbs. It scores low to medium on the glycemic index, so whole corn should not cause large spikes in blood sugar.
Fiber
Corn contains a fair amount of fiber.

One medium bag of popcorn from a cinema (112 g) contains approximately 16 grams of fiber.

This amount is 42% and 64% of the adequate daily intake for men and women, respectively (1, 4). The fiber content of different corn types varies, but is generally around 9-15% (1, 2).

The predominant types of fiber in corn are insoluble fibers, such as hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin (2).

BOTTOM LINE:
Whole corn is fairly high in fiber. In fact, one bag of popcorn may contain a large proportion of the recommended daily intake.