Is corn on the cob nutritious?

my question with corn is how much actually gets absorbed. I always seem to poop out whole kernels. Does this mean I am pooping out the nutrition too?

It's tasty though, especially on the bbq. yum.

if you dont eat corn for a while, let it clear your system, and then eat a cob, it's also a good way to estimate the transport time through your digestive system.

Thanks, this is exactly why I asked. It seems as if humans don't really do a good job digesting it, so I wonder what nutrients it has and how much actually gets absorbed.

chewing?

even when you chew them, you still poo out a bunch of yellow. I know humans are horrible at digesting plant material, and I know that means the "skin" of the kernel, but what about the insides?

all plants have cell walls made out of cellulose, as humans we cannot digest cellulose because we lack the enzyme cellulase this is known as "fiber" we rely on bacteria in our stomach to break it up, hence why you fart...

your body can only digest so much in the time that it takes to pass through the small intestine, where absorption takes place.

and its natural, of course its good for you...

runnnn wrote:

and its natural, of course its good for you...

Well so is dirt, and we aren't running around eating shitloads of that. Come on now.

You have to chew it well.

It doesn't have much in the way of vitamins and minerals, but it also has very few calories and its fiber keeps things moving in the intestinal tract.

Arsenic is natural, why don't you go eat some of that.

Maize is nature's Most Perfect Food. Just look at the Indians. How did they get so strong? By eating Indian Corn, of course. A primitive people who had not yet invented the wheel (and as a matter of fact never would), they discovered wild maize and thereby became masters of a continent. And that is a lesson for us all.

From:

http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=90

Health Benefits

Hot, fresh corn-on-the-cob is an almost essential part of any summertime party. Fortunately, it is also worthy part of any healthful menu. Our food ranking system qualified corn as a good source of many nutrients including thiamin (vitamin B1), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), folate, dietary fiber, vitamin C, phosphorous and manganese.

Corn for Cardiovascular Health

Corn's contribution to heart health lies not just in its fiber, but in the significant amounts of folate that corn supplies. Folate, which you may know about as a B-vitamin needed to prevent birth defects, also helps to lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that is an intermediate product in an important metabolic process called the methylation cycle. Homocysteine can directly damage blood vessels, so elevated blood levels of this dangerous molecule are an independent risk factor for heart attack, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease, and are found in between 20-40% of patients with heart disease....

and the article goes on with much more information.

T. Chorny

Perhaps more pertinently for this board:

"Maize is the primary staple food crop in the Kenyan diet, with a per capita consumption of 98 kilograms." (quote from usaid.gov)

I'm wondering what this means about the nutritional value of popcorn (air-popped, no additives such as oil, butter, salt, or sugar). Is eating popcorn a good way to diet since it fills you up but your body really isn't taking in much fat, few carbs, but mostly fiber?

(I admit I don't know much about nutrition so please correct me if I'm stating a wrong assumption.)

When you eat corn on the cob, you get corn on the log.

It's not good for you if you roll the cob in a plate of butter and then salt it down.

I've found corn actually constipates me.

jaguar1 wrote:

You have to chew it well.

...chew everything until it is a liquid.

Lucius Beebe wrote:

Maize is nature's Most Perfect Food. Just look at the Indians. How did they get so strong? By eating Indian Corn, of course. A primitive people who had not yet invented the wheel (and as a matter of fact never would), they discovered wild maize and thereby became masters of a continent. And that is a lesson for us all.

. . . I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

My Grandmother Said... wrote:

...chew everything until it is a liquid.

Even bread? Apples .... gravy ... very small rocks?