Why human beings cannot digest corns?

From plates to toilets, corns always remain the same as they are. These light-yellow corns of our favourite summer food -- which do not seem to have been digested -- end up in the toilet a few hours later. How do corns flee from the digestive system? Perhaps more importantly, should you really eat such indigestible food?

As the fact turns out, your digestive system works harder than you think, so do not just skip the corns. Ruminant nutritionist Andrea Watson said, those yellow corns in your poop are just the external layer.

Corns are seeds that carry precious genetic matters. The key for the seeds to survive is the smooth yellow external layer, which protects the genetic matters from weather, pests, and transportation. It is hard to break down and it's actually good for corns. The toughness of the external layer comes from tough fibres called Cellulose, which humans do not have enzymes or intestinal bacteria to digest.

Watson told Live Science that even ruminants like cows, which are better equipped to digest corns, are not always able to digest completely. Although the cows do not eat the sweet, glutinous corn we eat (they eat the hard, older corns which lasts), from their faeces the whole grains still appear. The researchers picked the corns out of the faeces and analysed their nutrients. “It turns out that they're digested quite a bit,” Watson said.

Watson says the good news is that cellulose is only 10 percent of corns. So, the other 90 percent are useful nutrients. Corns are also good source of dietary fibre, starch, and antioxidants (carotenoids). But according to Tufts University report in 2019, one serving of corns contains less carotenoids than green leafy vegetables.

There is a method to make corns more digestible without seeing it the next day is to process it. “The more you process, the easier it is to digest,” Watson said. This works on both humans and animals. She said, dry grinding, wet grinding, cooking -- all the processing steps can further destroy the hard-to-digest fibre molecules.

In fact, most of the corns that you eat are processed. The Tufts University report estimates that each American eats 70 kilograms of corns a year. Most of the corn eaten is not corns on the maize cob, but processed tortillas, nachos, popcorn and, most of all -- high fructose corn syrup.

However, easier digestion does not mean better health. Most of the good fibre and nutrients are lost in the process, which can be seen from the nutrition labels of common processed corn products (corn oil and high-fructose corn syrup). Corns in your poop may be gross, but they are not bad for your health. It turns out that the corn you eat is one of the healthiest forms. If you don't want to see the whole pellets of corn in the toilet, Watson has the best advice: Chewing well when you eat.