When it comes to superfoods, most people would not think about corn. After all, almost 85 percent of corn grown in the US are genetically modified. However, if you manage to get your hands on some organically grown corn, it can actually provide some surprising health benefits. In fact, recent research suggests that blue corn has the potential to protect against a variety of conditions like heart disease and metabolic syndrome.

A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food found that rats with diet-induced metabolic syndrome showed promising improvements when given blue corn extract.

True and blue

Blue corn, also known as blue maize, is traditionally grown in Mexico and the Southwestern US. This corn is sweeter, coarser and nuttier in flavor than other corn varieties grown for flour or meal. It’s grainier texture also makes a denser tortilla than the traditional ones made from white or yellow corn flour.

Further, certain types of blue corn have a much higher lysine content than white and yellow corn. Many varieties are also quite high in both iron and zinc. Previous research suggests that the anthocyanin content of blue corn, the compound responsible for its hue, provides potent antioxidant properties that can help fight off obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

In this new study, co-author Rosa Iseal Guzman-Geronimoa and her colleagues from the University of Veracruz in Mexico suggested that adding blue corn to the diet can be a healthy and effective way to fight off metabolic syndrome and a variety of other chronic diseases.

To investigate whether blue corn can mitigate the effects of a poor diet and help combat metabolic syndrome, the researchers fed mice a diet high in sugar and cholesterol for 12 weeks to induce metabolic syndrome.

Once the 12 weeks were up, the mice were separated into four diet groups for another four weeks: the first group was fed a high-sugar diet, another was fed a diet high in cholesterol, one group was fed a combination of the two and the last group was given a combination of high-sugar and high-cholesterol diet, but was supplemented with blue corn extract.

Compared to the rest of the groups, the blue corn group showed significant improvements in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and blood triglyceride levels. The mice also exhibited a significant reduction in abdominal fat gain.

“Anti-obesity food materials are always in demand, and this study brings out not only the importance of blue maize in controlling adiposity, but also the potential role of cholesterol in the development of obesity,” said Journal of Medicinal Food Editor-in-Chief Sampath Parthasarathy.

While there is still the need for further studies to see the potential health benefits in humans, the researchers believe that their findings show that blue corn is a “promising nutraceutical option” for the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

“In the present study, our investigation group has shown that administration of the blue maize extract of the Mixteco race has a beneficial effect on some alterations related to MS [metabolic syndrome] as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and abdominal fat. It may be considered as a nutritional approach for the prevention and treatment of MS,” they wrote.

Join the fight against obesity, heart disease and metabolic syndrome by adding blue corn and other superfoods to your diet.

Sources:

Eurekalert.org

LiebertPub.com

HuffPost.com

SFP.UCDavis.edu

AnnualReviews.org

MedicalNewsToday.com