Does anyone know why corn doesn't digest?!
Does anyone know why corn doesn't digest?
It comes out whole. It's wierd and it kind of gives you diarrhea too.
Answers:
i dont know either but its very strange when ya think about it. no matter how much you chew it, it comes out whole again. maybe its just the nature of corn. if you eat corn on the cob, does it come out in rows on a cornturd like corn on the cob?
Cellulose covering, same reason we can't digest grass, chew harder!
corn is a very high carb, therefore it is sugar. our bodies don't break sugars down very well.
my 10yr old says maybe corn is a shell.
We can digest corn, its the covering that comes out.
It's the outer skin of the kernel that protects the otherwise digestible pulp inside. Some believe that corn evolved this way so when it was eaten by animals the seed would survive the digestive process and be deposited by defecation in another area ensuring a never ending supply of corn. Other plants act in much the same way. Ever notice bird droppings containing berry seeds? Now wonder there are so many raspberry bushes everywhere you go!
Actually, you are partially correct that the human digestive system can't digest sweet corn (on the cob). The part that you see exit your body as part of your fecal matter is actually the part that the human digestive system can't do much with, because we don't have the enzymes (complicated proteins that the body creates) to break apart what the corn kernel covering is made of...some animals can, though. I think that maybe seeing the coverings not digested is what made you think that the whole corn kernel isn't digested.
The rest of the corn kernel (the interior stuff) is easily digestible by the human digestive system. The center part of the kernel is mainly starch (complex carbohydrate) and a little bit of protein...and a few vitamins and minerals. The human body then can absorb the breakdown products from the starch and protein, as well as the vitamins and minerals into the blood stream, where the materials can be delivered to the rest of the body tissues.
So, the end result is that, in order to get the maxiumum nutritional yield from the sweet corn you eat, make sure that it is well cooked and that you chew it well, so your digestive tract has the chance to 'capture' all the nutrients that it can from the corn.
Corn lacks the protein tryptophan and when a straight diet of it is consumed, is the culprit behind the disease pellagra. Treating corn with lime (an alkali) resolves the pellagra issue, and the native preparation of maize dealt with this quite nicely. Now, about the husks of the kernal and the stalks of the corn plant being undigestable: humans lack the amino acid lycene, and that makes digesting such stuff a bit difficult. Actually the stalks aren't COMPLETELY undigestable, but I wouldn't go munching on them. So when you see corn kernal husks in your poopie, you've digested what's inside, just not the outside.
Plain and simple, your stomach acids can't break down the outside. One of life's most interesting mysteries.
Cows have four stomachs and it still comes out as corn. Then the geese eat it out of the cowpies. It's indestructible! They should make airplanes out of it!
I used to date someone who said corn is only for cows, because they are the only ones who can really digest it.
b,coz you dom't chew it properly