Corn is one of the most widely eaten foods in the world. It’s also incredibly versatile. You’ll find it in baked goods and breads, popped as a snack, grilled on the cob, fed to cows, used to fuel cars, and as the base ingredient for a huge range of processed foods and additives. But is corn good for you? And how do you choose the healthiest corn to eat?
Not all corn is created equal!
What Is Corn?
Corn is a domesticated crop that is thought to have originated from a Mexican grass called teosinte — corn’s closest relative — over 8,700 years ago. Christopher Columbus
introduced corn to Europe around the late 1400s. From there, the rest of the world came to know it by way of travelers and traders.
Traditionally, the British English use of the word “corn” referred to any form of grain. Many other countries around the world call it “maize.” But as an American, to avoid confusion, I’m just going to call corn “corn,” if I maize. (Sorry. Corny pun.)
And now we come to one of the biggest corn questions of them all: Is corn a grain? Or a vegetable?
Apparently, that’s a bit of a gray area. Most people consider corn on the cob a vegetable. But when it comes to the individual kernels, those are whole grains. Kernels are also seeds (you can plant them to grow popcorn!), so technically that could even make corn a fruit.
There are many different varieties of corn. The most common ones are sweet corn (the yellow variety you’re most likely to find on the cob or cut off the cob and frozen at the grocery store or local market), blue corn (full of anthocyanins, which accounts for its bluish kernels), Indian corn (a beautiful variety with multicolored kernels), field corn (sometimes referred to as “cow corn,” because so much of it is fed to livestock), and baby corn (may be found at a salad bar or pickled in tiny jars at the grocery store; not necessarily smaller, just really sweet or field corn picked very prematurely).
In addition to health-promoting antioxidants, edible corn offers some other benefits, too:
- Corn has many nutrients. It’s a good source of fiber, protein, B vitamins, and minerals like zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, iron, selenium, and phosphorus.
- Corn may help keep your eyes healthy. Corn is high in lutein and zeaxanthin, which are carotenoid compounds naturally found in the macula of your eyes.
- Corn may be good for your gut. The high fiber content of corn may also be good for your gut. Fiber is essential for digestive health. It’s been shown to reduce the risk for digestive diseases like colorectal cancer and diverticulitis.
- Corn has long been a part of traditionally healthy diets. Corn has been a staple food for Native Americans and an important source of nutrients for many nations throughout history. And numerous researchers suggest that switching back to more traditional foods like corn could significantly reduce the chronic diseases of modern society.
What About Popcorn?
Popcorn is a whole grain with many nutrients, including a significant amount of fiber and polyphenols. Although there are many delicious ways to prepare this popular snack, the mode of preparation is key. That’s where you can transform a healthy snack into an unhealthy one.
For instance, many microwave popcorn bags contain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been linked to thyroid problems and ADHD. Many packaged brands also contain hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils, which can contain trans fats that are harmful to your heart health. And if it has fake butter in it? This often contains a chemical called diacetyl, which has been linked, in an occupational exposure study involving a microwave popcorn production facility, to a respiratory disease called cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. Yikes!
It’s best to enjoy air-popped popcorn, which enables you to avoid the oil used in the processing of most commercially available popcorn. And instead of mounds of melted butter and salt, try popcorn with healthier toppings. Perhaps nutritional yeast, lemon juice, herbal seasoning, turmeric, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, a dash of sea salt, and/or other herbs and spices. Some people even try cinnamon. The possibilities are endless!
Corn, Pesticides, and GMOs
Largely as a result of being grown in enormous monocultures with little to no rotation of crops, corn is highly susceptible to pests. As such, farmers often spray it with pesticides and herbicides, most of which the thick corn husk prevents from infiltrating the edible part. But that doesn’t stop these chemicals from being incredibly harmful to the environment and to species, like bees, that come in contact with these poisons.
Genetic modification is another strategy agribusiness employs in its war against the pests that pose a particular threat to monocultures. As of 2016, approximately 92% of corn grown in the United States was genetically modified. One goal of genetic modification of corn is to make corn resistant to herbicides (like Monsanto’s RoundUp, or glyphosate). What’s more, most GMO corn can produce a protein naturally made by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria, which kills pests like the southwestern corn borer that can threaten crops. When the corn borer eats this kind of GMO corn, the bug’s intestines explode, causing rapid death.
Historically, farmers would spray Bt on the outside of plants and you could even wash it off. But with GMO crops, you can find it in literally every cell of the plant. Humans are eating it in utterly unprecedented quantities, and with GMO crops the pesticide is “built in.”
And there’s more bad news. Bt corn worked to repel pests for a while, but now the pests appear to be building resistance to its toxin. How do farmers protect the crops when that starts to happen? By spraying with more pesticides, of course.
The good news is that there is no GMO popcorn. And the majority of sweet corn (the kind people eat the most frequently) is not genetically modified. The sweet variety is on the Environmental Working Group’s 2023 Clean Fifteen list of crops that contain the least pesticide residues. However, Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) isn’t standing idly by when they can make money. Now, you can find genetically engineered sweet corn in stores.
If you want to avoid GMO corn, there are a couple of actions you can take. First, you can ask your local farmers if they’re planting GMO seeds. This is, of course, easiest to do if you’re buying directly from them at a local farmers’ market. You can also look for USDA Organic corn, or for Non-GMO Project certified. Neither of these certifications allows for the use of GMO crops.
Source: FRN, edited