In life there are many curiosities and today we bring one that has to do with the exciting world of our digestive system. If we usually eat corn with salads, for example, we will have noticed that our body expels the grains as is (or so we think). We are going to explain why this happens and if it is harmful or not for our health.
Digestion begins in our mouth with chewing and salivation. Experts recommend chewing between 30 and 50 times each bite . But we do not always do it, since many times we chew 5 or 6 times and swallow, that leads to stomach aches, gas and even undigested food in its entirety.
In the case of corn, it is quite common for it to appear in our feces in the same way that it comes out of the can or jar. The first reason is due to the lack of chewing and the second reason comes from a scientific study and many others that were done before.
There is a very basic trick to get our body to digest corn 100%, and it is no joke, in fact, it is more common than we think and more time that we are only able to think of corn as an individual grain (example : cans of sweet corn).
We lack enzymes and intestinal bacteria
No, our health is not affected, nor do we have any disease. Not digesting whole corn is normal in humans and is because our body does not have enough enzymes and enough intestinal bacteria to digest that food, according to a study published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Corn is covered by a layer of cellulose and we humans do not have the necessary enzymes to break that chain and digest that food in its entirety, but we are capable of absorbing a large part of its nutrients.
In other words, what we see in the feces is the outer part of the grain, that is, the layer that our body cannot destroy. Everything inside is digested and used for our benefits. Corn provides us with vitamin A, B3 and B9 (folic acid), as well as iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, sodium and zinc.
This lack of digestion of corn (in South America) or corn, can lead us to think that something is wrong with us and that for some unknown reason we do not digest well, but it is not like that.
Corn is a very healthy food and we should add it to our diet a few days a week. If we don’t want to get a nasty surprise and see sweet corn kernels in our stools, we can choose to cook them in some way.
Taking it to another state will make it easier to digest, for example, as popcorn, in tortillas, bread with 100% corn flour, corn hummus, etc. By processing food, even minimally, it will digest better and the body can make good use of it.
