Diet Plans: How Safe Is Your Corn?

By Saleem Rana

Although it may seem that corn is a good food to add to your diet, there are some good reasons why it would not work well in diet plans.

It's hard to imagine watching a good movie without some buttered pop corn or a great barbeque without corn on the cob, but it may be time to rethink these popular choices.

This question seems to be coming up more and more often...

Should corn be included in diet plans?

Unfortunately, as much as 60% of corn in the United States is genetically modified. In fact, the numbers may be higher because it is hard to get solid statistics on such a controversial topic. This practice of genetic modification of corn began as a way to allow farmers to grow a bigger crop and make more money because the crops could now fight off insects that were resistant to insecticides.

Sweet corn, also called Bt-corn, has been genetically modified so that it secretes a poison that kills insects.

Now although some of these may sound like a good thing (especially if you're a farmer!), we need to consider how GMO foods respond in our bodies and what kind of long term effects they can have on our health.

Since the long term effects of GMO (genetically modified organism) foods are not known, we are all part of a massive experiments, unwitting guinea pigs. In fact, what little research that has been done on GMO has resulted in some disturbing news. In April 2007, Arpad Pusztai, a researcher from Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, UK, noted that rats fed on genetically engineered potatoes had intestinal problems.

Doctors frequently deal with patients who have irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive problems. GMO foods may be playing a significant role in this issue.

Assuming that you can get your hands on non-GMO foods, then does corn fit into good diet plans?

Carbohydrates And Weight Loss



The most important thing to be aware of is that your body processes corn as if it were a carbohydrate rather than a vegetable. This means that you should not consider meal with brown rice and corn as a carbohydrate and vegetable meal. Instead, it is more accurate to classify corn as a grain. Thus, a meal with corn should be counted as a meal with a serving of carbohydrates.

What about microwave popcorn?

Microwave popcorn is not healthy. There are two reasons for this. It has preservatives and the bag is coated with chemicals used in non-stick cookware that rubs on the kernels.

What about air popped popcorn?

This is the best choice, but it should only be eaten occasionally. Since pop corn is a grain, it is a carbohydrate, and having too many carbohydrates will not assist in weight loss.

I hope this information helps you to make a more informed decision at your next barbeque and at your next movie night with making food choices that fit in with your diet plans. Remember, corn is not off limits by any means, just remember you're looking for the non-GMO varieties and including it as a grain and not a vegetable into your diet plans.

About the Author:

Saleem Rana, who has been studying better eating habits for twenty years, recommends that you check out the free diet tips offered by renowned nutritionist Isabela De Los Rios