On a diabetes diet, corn gets classified as a starchy food, not a vegetable. This is because corn is higher in carbohydrates than non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, carrots and tomatoes. Because corn contains a substantial amount of carbohydrates, your blood glucose levels will rise after your body digests it.
Digestion and Blood Glucose
Digestion is closely related to your blood glucose levels. After you eat, the food material makes its way to your stomach to undergo digestion. During digestion your food gets broken down. In the case of carbohydrate-containing foods such as corn, the carbohydrates get broken down into sugar molecules. After the carbohydrates are converted into sugar molecules, they get absorbed into your bloodstream, causing an increase in your blood glucose levels.
Corn Nutritional Information
Carbohydrates include three main types -- sugar, starch and fiber. According to the American Diabetes Association, corn is one of the healthier starchy vegetables you can eat because it is a source of dietary fiber. Indeed, corn contains nearly as many fiber carbohydrates as it does sugar carbohydrates. In 1 cup of corn, you will find 4.96 g of sugar and 4.2 g of dietary fiber.
Fiber
The dietary fiber in corn plays an important role in your blood glucose levels. This is because fiber carbohydrates -- unlike sugar carbohydrates and starch carbohydrates -- do not get digested. So while sugar and starch carbohydrates get digested and converted into sugar molecules that enter your bloodstream, fiber continues to make its way through your body and eventually gets passed, undigested. Essentially, fiber does not affect your blood glucose levels. However, corn also contains sugar and starch carbohydrates, so eating corn will cause your blood glucose levels to rise.
Considerations
According to the American Diabetes Association, your lunch and dinner meals should include this balance: 1/2 starchy foods,1/4 lean protein and 1/2 non-starchy vegetables. So if you choose to include corn in your meal, it should not make up more than 1/4 of your total dish. To maintain healthy blood glucose levels, it is important that you distinguish between starchy food vegetables and non-starchy vegetables. Besides corn, other vegetables classified as starchy foods include potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peas, butternut squash and plantains.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Non-Starchy Vegetables
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Glycemic Index and Diabetes
- MayoClinic.com: Nutrition and Healthy Eating -- Glycemic Index Diet: Losing Weight with Blood Sugar Control, Nov. 24, 2009
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Carbohydrates
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Whole Grain Foods
- United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database
