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Tex, I figure you will be an expert on this...
Thank goodness I can tolerate corn. I think that white corn is easier on my gut than yellow corn.
I used to purchase yellow corn tortillas, but I didn't like the taste, maybe because of the lime. I've been making my own tortillas out of white corn and they seem to be softer and don't taste any different than my brown rice tortillas.
Is white corn the same as yellow corn, as far as the gut goes?
Gloria
White Corn vs. Yellow Corn
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White Corn vs. Yellow Corn
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Gloria,
Generally, there's likely to be more difference from one variety of corn, to another, than there is between white and yellow corn, as far as nutritional analysis is concerned. Protein content, fat, and fiber content are roughly the same, and so are the amino acids, but again, there can be a lot of difference between individual varieties, as far as amino acids are concerned. For example, both white and yellow corn, (and in fact, all cereal grains), are typically short on lysine, (naicin), but high-lysine varieties of corn, are available, for special uses.
I place the blame on Frito-Lay. 20 or 30 years ago, there were some great food corn varieties on the market, but then Frito-Lay discovered that they could use much lower grade corn varieties to make their corn chips, if they tweaked the cooking process a bit, (to make masa). So, they began to buy lower grades of corn for their use, (because the lower grades of corn yield more, so the grain is cheaper), and so everyone else had to follow suit, in order to compete.
By lower grade, I mean corn that has less uniformity in kernel size and shape, lower bushel weight, and a thinner pericarp, (shell), when compared with traditional food grade varieties. When you looked at a list of seed corn that was available, most companies would offer one to two dozen varieties of field corn, but only two or three, (at the most), food grade varieties, in either yellow or white color. In those days, food corn weighed 63 to 65 pounds per bushel, and field corn weighted 56 pounds per bushel. Food corn brought a fifteen cent to 40 cent per bushel premium, (to the farmer). These days, a typical list of available seed corn offerings will show that almost all of it will be listed as food grade corn, (with maybe two or three varieties that don't make the grade). These days, food corn is lucky to weight 58 to 60 pounds per bushel, and if it brings any premium at all, it will be in the range of maybe ten cents per bushel.
IOW, the overall quality, (for food grade purposes), is now much lower than it used to be. The quality was downgraded, in order to provide increased yields. However, the only reason that anyone plants white corn, these days, is for food grade purposes, so the white corn varieties have not been downgraded as severely as the yellow varieties. IMO, that's the reason why the white corn varieties have better food characteristics than the yellow varieties, in general. FWIW, I prefer white corn tortillas, also.
Anyway, that's why I think that white corn is superior to yellow corn, for food grade purposes.
Tex
Generally, there's likely to be more difference from one variety of corn, to another, than there is between white and yellow corn, as far as nutritional analysis is concerned. Protein content, fat, and fiber content are roughly the same, and so are the amino acids, but again, there can be a lot of difference between individual varieties, as far as amino acids are concerned. For example, both white and yellow corn, (and in fact, all cereal grains), are typically short on lysine, (naicin), but high-lysine varieties of corn, are available, for special uses.
I place the blame on Frito-Lay. 20 or 30 years ago, there were some great food corn varieties on the market, but then Frito-Lay discovered that they could use much lower grade corn varieties to make their corn chips, if they tweaked the cooking process a bit, (to make masa). So, they began to buy lower grades of corn for their use, (because the lower grades of corn yield more, so the grain is cheaper), and so everyone else had to follow suit, in order to compete.
By lower grade, I mean corn that has less uniformity in kernel size and shape, lower bushel weight, and a thinner pericarp, (shell), when compared with traditional food grade varieties. When you looked at a list of seed corn that was available, most companies would offer one to two dozen varieties of field corn, but only two or three, (at the most), food grade varieties, in either yellow or white color. In those days, food corn weighed 63 to 65 pounds per bushel, and field corn weighted 56 pounds per bushel. Food corn brought a fifteen cent to 40 cent per bushel premium, (to the farmer). These days, a typical list of available seed corn offerings will show that almost all of it will be listed as food grade corn, (with maybe two or three varieties that don't make the grade). These days, food corn is lucky to weight 58 to 60 pounds per bushel, and if it brings any premium at all, it will be in the range of maybe ten cents per bushel.
IOW, the overall quality, (for food grade purposes), is now much lower than it used to be. The quality was downgraded, in order to provide increased yields. However, the only reason that anyone plants white corn, these days, is for food grade purposes, so the white corn varieties have not been downgraded as severely as the yellow varieties. IMO, that's the reason why the white corn varieties have better food characteristics than the yellow varieties, in general. FWIW, I prefer white corn tortillas, also.
Anyway, that's why I think that white corn is superior to yellow corn, for food grade purposes.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thanks, Tex for your thorough answer.
It sounds like white corn has stayed the same, but yellow corn has gotten inferior. It's nice to know that you prefer white corn tortillas, too. I don't think I can purchase them ready made up here, but I've learned a way to cook them so that they don't fall apart.
Gloria
It sounds like white corn has stayed the same, but yellow corn has gotten inferior. It's nice to know that you prefer white corn tortillas, too. I don't think I can purchase them ready made up here, but I've learned a way to cook them so that they don't fall apart.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Joe,
Actually, no human can digest whole corn. The pericarp that covers the kernel is pretty much impervious to our digestive system. Cattle have four stomachs, one of which is designed for that purpose, but even young bovines are unable to break down the pericarp before they are about three-quarters grown. Unless the grain is rolled, (cracked, or crushed between the rollers in a mill), before it is fed, the kernels will pass right through them, (much like humans).
If you chew it thoroughly, of course, you will be able to separate the endosperm, (the sugar, or starch, depending on whether the corn is in the roasting ear stage, or mature and dried), from the pericarp, but the pericarp will still pass through undigested, (as fiber). I suppose that corn causes D in "normal" people because of the high sugar content, when it is in the roasting ear stage, but for someone with MC, (or Crohn's), I would assume that the undigestible fiber would also be prone to causing D. Varieties rated as food corn, are sweeter than field corn, (at the roasting ear stage), and the sweet corn varieties that you are referring to have even more sugar than "regular" food corn.
You can expect D from it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is causing an autoimmune reaction. You would have to determine whether you are having secretory D, or osmotic D, in order to judge whether it is causing an MC reaction, or just plain, old, ordinary, run-of-the-mill diarrhea.
Tex
Actually, no human can digest whole corn. The pericarp that covers the kernel is pretty much impervious to our digestive system. Cattle have four stomachs, one of which is designed for that purpose, but even young bovines are unable to break down the pericarp before they are about three-quarters grown. Unless the grain is rolled, (cracked, or crushed between the rollers in a mill), before it is fed, the kernels will pass right through them, (much like humans).
If you chew it thoroughly, of course, you will be able to separate the endosperm, (the sugar, or starch, depending on whether the corn is in the roasting ear stage, or mature and dried), from the pericarp, but the pericarp will still pass through undigested, (as fiber). I suppose that corn causes D in "normal" people because of the high sugar content, when it is in the roasting ear stage, but for someone with MC, (or Crohn's), I would assume that the undigestible fiber would also be prone to causing D. Varieties rated as food corn, are sweeter than field corn, (at the roasting ear stage), and the sweet corn varieties that you are referring to have even more sugar than "regular" food corn.
You can expect D from it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is causing an autoimmune reaction. You would have to determine whether you are having secretory D, or osmotic D, in order to judge whether it is causing an MC reaction, or just plain, old, ordinary, run-of-the-mill diarrhea.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Joe wrote:Whens the book coming out?
It's going to take a while - I'm going to have to learn to stop rewriting everything, every time I review it. Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.