Such a person I am - if any question interests me, then I definitely need to get to the bottom of the truth, otherwise a dream will not be a dream and food will not be food :) So I heard the other day quite by accident that corn has never grown and does not grow in nature in the wild, but is able to exist solely due to selection methods! Our whole family loves corn, so I just could not leave this issue unattended. And the product itself needed a more detailed analysis, so I did my own research and found out why corn is called the queen of the fields and whether corn is actually healthy ...
The origin of corn...
For many years, experts have been arguing about where this yellow miracle came from on our earth ?! There is even a version that corn is of alien origin and is a gift from an extraterrestrial civilization to all mankind.
And this version appeared for the following reason: in many sources you can find information that no one has ever seen corn, or as it is also called maize, reproduce on its own! Those. such a process as the ripening of seeds and their dispersal is not at all characteristic of corn. Instead, mature cobs, if not removed in time, will simply fall to the ground and rot over time! Those. the plant is not capable of reproducing its own kind ...
But when I began to study information about corn on several forums, I met reviews of people who said that they had seen cases when corn sprouted on its own. But for this, the corn cob must be mature. And its shell should not be so tightly folded and begin to move away from the cob.
But in order to draw any conclusions, it is also necessary to tell you, friends, that corn still has wild counterparts. A huge number of different studies (including genetic ones) have confirmed this. So, the closest relatives of modern common corn are:
1. Small wild genus Tripsacum
2. Annual plant Teosinte - Zea Mexieana
3. Perennial Teosinte - Zea Perennis and Zea Diploperennis
Note that all the plants presented are very similar in appearance to cereals in the traditional form in which we are accustomed to seeing them. And we are used to the fact that the inflorescences of cereals are presented in the form of panicles, brushes, heads or complex ears. And in modern corn, despite the fact that it is also a cereal, the inflorescence is represented by an ear to which the grains are firmly attached and all this is firmly protected by leaf wrappers. All these moments have been naturally selected and artificially bred by man over many decades to increase productivity and ease of processing and harvesting corn.
Now everything has fallen into place: corn has nothing to do with alien races, and all problems with the self-reproduction of corn are connected only with human activity and convenience.
P.S. By the way, the saying “corn is the queen of the fields” has come from the time of the reign of N.S. Khrushchev, who in 1955, with the mood of an absolute fanatic, ordered to sow almost the entire land of the Soviet Union with corn. After that, for several years, the area under corn only increased.
A terrible secret about the relationship between GMOs and corn.
Friends, and now one more moment, which I consider the scourge of modern society. This is the problem with GMO foods. You can read about what GMOs are and how GM products affect a person in. And here corn is in the forefront! I have seen many sources where there is information that from 80 to 90% of all corn in our markets is GMO, but this is NOT TRUE!!!
I absolutely assure you that all 100% of the corn that we meet is GMO!
So is corn healthy at all?!
Certainly there are positives. And here are some of them:
1. Corn is a very starchy food! But despite the fact that now many consider starch a very harmful product, there are different types of starch. And there is starch, which is not only useful, but also necessary for our body. This is resistant starch. About what role resistant starch plays for our body and in what products it is contained, we already wrote in the article "". So the vast majority of starch in corn is indigestible.
2. It is generally accepted that corn is one of the few foods that does not contain gluten. For those who hear about this substance for the first time, we strongly advise you to pay attention to the article “. But it's not! Corn kernels also contain corn gluten, which is produced in large quantities in production for the livestock industry. And there was a story with gluten-free corn because in the process of producing corn grits, all the shells and the germ are separated from the corn grain, which contains all the gluten. Thus, only the gluten-free endosperm reaches the grinding stage.
3. Exceptional chemical composition. Corn contains just a huge amount of chemical elements. More than 25 different substances! The highest content of elements such as magnesium, potassium, copper, phosphorus, sodium. There are a lot of vitamins in the corn cob - A, group B, PP, C, E, K, etc. Maize also contains essential amino acids that are very important for the body - lysine and tryptophan. The yellow color of corn is due to the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which are natural antioxidants. Read more about all natural antioxidant products at.
Corn total...
I can’t say for sure whether corn is good for a person! This is a purely individual question! And everyone himself must weigh all the pros and cons, all the positive aspects and dubious aspects of the corn issue! If you are not embarrassed by GM products, then definitely corn is your product! But if you are trying to get out of this GMO stream, which literally “knocks down” modern man, then corn is not your product!