Is Corn Fattening?
Fatty foods are usually higher in calories than low-fat foods, and can lead to unwanted weight gain. Sticking to your recommended daily calorie intake by choosing a variety of healthy foods will help you maintain a healthy body weight. If you’re consuming a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, the U.S.
Fatty foods are usually higher in calories than low-fat foods, and can lead to unwanted weight gain. Sticking to your recommended daily calorie intake by choosing a variety of healthy foods will help you maintain a healthy body weight. If you're consuming a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends you eat 2.5 cups of vegetables per day, including 5 cups of starchy vegetables such as corn, each week. Depending on how corn is prepared, it is usually not fattening.
Fat Recommendations
Since fat contains 9 calories per gram and carbohydrates and protein each contain 4 calories per gram, eating a lot of fatty foods can lead to weight gain. The amount of fat you should eat depends on your total daily calorie intake recommendations for weight maintenance. If you're an adult, the Institute of Medicine recommends you consume 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories from total fats, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture encourages you to consume less than 10 percent of your daily calories from saturated fats. Therefore, if your energy intake is 2,000 calories per day, consume between 44 grams and 78 grams of total fat and less than 23 grams of saturated fat each day.
Nutritional Information
One serving size of corn is half a cup. Canned corn with salt added contains about 60 total calories per serving and 10 fat calories per serving, or about 1 gram of total fat. Therefore, canned corn is about 17 percent fat, which most people would not consider fattening. Corn also provides 3 grams of fiber, 11 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of protein, iron and vitamin C in each serving.
Fat in Corn
Although corn does contain some fat, the fat is healthy mono- and poly-unsaturated fat. Corn does not contain saturated or trans fats, which means the small amount of fat found in corn is heart-healthy. However, if you add butter or margarine to your corn, the fat content will significantly increase.
Considerations
Although corn isn't fattening, it is a starchy vegetable, meaning it does contain carbohydrates. Consuming too many carbohydrates and overall calories can lead to weight and fat gain. If you're overweight, the American Dietetic Association encourages you to reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 to 1,000 calories per day for a weight loss of one to two pounds per week. The American Dietetic Association also reports that reducing carbohydrates rather than calories or fat may help with short-term weight loss, and reducing your carbohydrate intake results in a reduced overall energy intake, which is effective for weight and fat loss.