Have health-fads gone haywire? Looking at the smear campaign against sweetcorn – our all time favorite barbequed summer snack, whose beautiful and bubbly yellow surface you can’t keep your hands off – you’d think some diet experts have got the wrong end of the cob. Some say it’s too sugary, starchy, or just plain devoid of nutrition, but it’s actually full of goodness and, if you did need an excuse to tuck in this summer, here are six great reasons to do just that:
It’s totally gluten-free
Corn of all kinds is not just a Celiac’s best friend. According to nutritional research, we may all be subject to varying degrees of gluten intolerance. So you can share a corn on the cob with your gluten-allergic pals, feeling safe in the knowledge that you’re also being good to your gut.
It has less sugar than most fruits
Contrary to popular belief, or perhaps natural instinct, the sweetness in corn doesn’t derive from a high glucose content – unlike fruit, which is packed with glucose’s thinly veiled counterpart fructose. Sweetcorn has half the sugar content of a banana, and a third of that of an apple.
It counts as one of your five-a-day
Sweetcorn is just what the doctor ordered! The NHS five-a-day campaign encourages people to increase their daily levels and variety of nutrients. Rather than loading your fruit-bowl this summer, you might want to consider packing a Saladette Counter like this one (https://www.fridgefreezerdirect.co.uk/commercial-refrigeration-brands/i-l/interlevin/interlevin-esa900-refrigerated-saladette-counter) with this harmless sweet alternative.
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It feeds your gut’s friends
We have begun to hear a lot of talk of ‘friendly bacteria’, and it seems we may have been starving the bacteria that help us digest our food and feel generally well. These bacteria thrive in probiotic foods, but they also need to be fed the right stuff. Sweetcorn is a favourite of our gut-pals, so why not give them, and yourself, a sweet treat.
It’s full of nutrients
The NHS recommends sweetcorn because it is, in fact, packed with antioxidants, potassium, vitamins C and D, and magnesium – all essential for your eyesight, your muscle generation, your general energy and your all over good health.
Gimme a high fibre!
One fact no self-respecting dietician can deny is sweetcorn’s high fibre content. Fibre is also needed by our guts to digest our food and keep everything moving as it should.
