Benefits of Hot-Spicy Sweet Corns

Sweet corn is one of the most popular vegetable among kids as well as in adults. The hot-spicy and sweet flavored sweet corn is also used as ingredient pizzas and vegetables curies. Besides, being delicious this vegetable is also rich in vitamin and minerals. It contains vitamin B1, vitamin B5, vitamin C, phosphorus, magnesium, folate and dietary fiber. Because of the presence of vitamins and minerals consumption of this food provides lot of health benefits.

Sweet corn is widely cultivated during the summers. It is popularly known as Indian corn, sugar corn and pole corn. It is the variety of maize with high sugar level. Unlike field corns, sweet corns are picked when immature and cocked and eaten as a vegetable rather than grain. The process of maturation involves converting the sugar into starch, sweet corn stores poorly. Therefore, it must be eaten fresh before the kernel become tough and starchy.

Sweet corns are used in vegetarian as well as in many of the non- vegetarian dishes by boiling them. It is also prepared as soup called sweet corn soup. Consumption of sweet corn in any form is good for health. Some of the health benefits of sweet corns are;

• Cardiovascular health- presence of folate in sweet corn reduces the chances of heart diseases. Folate is also known as vitamin B9 which effectively lowers the homocysteine level in the body. Homocysteine is the amino acid in the body. Increased homocysteine leads to heart diseases and several other problems. Taking 100% of the sweet corn decreases the risk of heart attack, strokes and peripheral vascular disease up to 10%.

• Cancer prevention- consumption of sweet corn reduces the risk of lung cancer up to 37% as it contains chemical called bet cryptoxanthin; chemically similar to a well known chemical beta carotene. Human body converts beta cryptoxanthin into vitamin A. according to study, it has been stated that there is inverse relation between consumption of beta cryptoxanthin and lung cancer. Therefore, consumption of sweet corn reduces the risk of lung cancer in the body.

• Memory enhancement- thiamine or vitamin A in sweet corn nurtures the brain cells and protects them from any cognitive disease. Consumption of Theremine is vital for body to produce acetylcholine. It also reduces the risk of contraction of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Vision protection- consumption of sweet corn is good for the vision. Sweet corn contains antioxidant zeaxanthin, beta carotene and folate which are good for the eyes. The antioxidant zeaxanthin is a yellow pigment that is naturally present in sweet corn. Consumption of zeaxanthin is good for eyes and protects from age related eyes diseases like macular degeneration.

• Ferulic acid in sweet corn- sweet corn contains Ferulic acid which prevents inflammation and some types of cancer.

• Sweet corn calorie- it remained the matter of debate that whether high level of sugar present in sweet corn is good or bad. Canned sweet corn preserved in corn syrup that increases calories. It is not even good as health perspective. It is mandatory to rinse and drain canned sweet kernels before its consumption. Make sure you use fresh corns as they contain more nutrients than that of canned ones.

Sweet corn has proved to be more nutritious than any other fruit and vegetables but it is necessary to consume it in right manner. Instead of adding extra salt and butter to your sweet corn recipe, try grilled corn. Boiled corn kernel can also be added to salad and vegetables to make them more nutritious.