Good Corn, Bad Corn: Nutrition

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GOOD CORN, BAD CORN: NUTRITION

MATERIALS  A few calorimeters (instructions for building a bomb calorimeter are attached)  High fructose corn syrup  Sweet corn  Grain corn  Various healthy and unhealthy corn products, hot Cheetos, tortillas, etc. (for examining labels and burning in calorimeter)  Sugar displays – Test tubes and charts showing composition of corn, soda, and HFCS  Scale  Various bottles of soda  Hotplate and pot

OBJECTIVES  Students will define calories  Students will discover the significant nutritional difference between unprocessed or slightly processed foods and highly processed foods.  Students will be informed to make healthy decisions about their diet and specifically sugar intake

BACKGROUND This lesson focuses on the nutritional value of processed vs. unprocessed corn products. The lesson also covers more general and basic nutrition. A second “Good Corn, Bad Corn” lesson will more thoroughly explore economic and ecologic perspectives on how corn is good and bad for society and the planet.

SNACK Infused water and popcorn

 Discuss benefits of drinking infused water as a substitute for soda! Get creative, try carbonating, different fruits, or herbs. An easy one is cucumber, mint, and lemon.  Pop popcorn in a large pot on hotplate instead of using microwave or prepopped popcorn.

INTRODUCTION Do you think corn is healthy or unhealthy?

The tortillas that we made are very healthy. Fresh or frozen corn is very healthy and products made from whole grain corn can also be healthy but lots of corn is processes into very unhealthy foods. Curriculum for Restoration Restorationpedagogy.com/curriculum

Have you ever heard of high fructose corn syrup?

A lot of those long hard to read words on ingredient labels are chemicals made from corn. It’s hard to find any processed food that does not have ingredients that come from corn.

Dextrose, maltodextrin, maltose, malititol, xylitol, polydextrose and hydrolyzed vegetable protein can all be derived from corn, not to mention the more obvious things like high fructose corn syrup and corn oil.

CORN FACTS • Farmers grow corn on every continent except Antarctica. • There are about 800 kernels in 16 rows on each ear of corn • One strand of silk per kernel of corn. • The main ingredient in most dry pet food is corn. • A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. • Corn is used to produce fuel alcohol. Fuel alcohol makes gasoline burn cleaner, reducing air pollution, and it doesn't pollute the water.

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP • Refined sugar, the white powder you can buy at the store or bake with, traditionally comes from sugar cane or beets. High fructose corn syrup is a slightly different type of sugar that is extracted from corn. • Most likely no better or worse than sugar for your body but it is hotly debated. Some scientists think that high fructose corn syrup is worse than sugar and more likely to cause obesity. o No matter what, too much sugar is bad for you no matter where it came from. o A lot of corn is being grown specifically to meet the demand for sugar and we would all be a lot better off eating whole grain corn – for our individual health and to defeat hunger o We’re basically poisoning ourselves with sugar and making unhealthy food or “empty calories” out of one of our most healthy foods. We could be healthier and feed more hungry people if we stopped making so much of our corn into corn syrup. • Cheaper than sugar • Loses health benefits of corn • Highly prevalent

BOIL OUT THE SUGAR Did you know that most sweets and sodas are made from high fructose corn syrup, not sugar?

How much sugar, from HFCS, do you think is in this can of soda?

Soda is basically just sugar and water. If we boil it until all the water evaporates we will be left with just sugar. We’re going to do just that and weigh what is left over. Curriculum for Restoration Restorationpedagogy.com/curriculum

Boil all the water off a can of soda and see what the remaining syrup weighs. (It should be right around 40 grams)

Do you know how much sugar you should have in a day? A maximum of 9.5 teaspoons or 38 grams.

How much sugar was in the soda? Yikes!

WHAT ARE CALORIES, ANYWAY? We call the energy stored in food calories. All food has calories.

Fat has 9 calories per gram. Protein has 4 calories per gram. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. Sugar is a type of carbohydrate

Our body burns calories to make energy. We all need a certain amount of calories each day to keep our body working. However, when we eat more calories than we need they are stored as fat in our body. We all have some fat, and it’s important to have fat in our bodies, but too much can lead to health problems.

A bear eats lots of calories and stores them as fat to keep its body running while it hibernates. We might have similar instincts to a bear and our body might tell our brain to eat whenever food is available to store it for later. But humans need to eat every day and it is very hard on our bodies to overeat some days and then rely on our stored fat to provide calories other days.

Finally, we don’t just need a certain number of calories to be healthy, we also need all sorts of different nutrients and calories from sugar are called “empty calories” because they don’t provide the important nutrients that we need.

Sometimes we eat too many empty calories and our body stores them as fat and still be malnourished. Our bodies might keep telling us that we are hungry because we do not have enough of certain nutrients in our bodies. If you still feel hungry after a meal, think about myplate and choose a snack from a category you have not already eaten from.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON Display 100 grams each of sweet corn and high fructose corn syrup. Behind each, display how much sugar is in each and a visual representation of other nutrients.

• 100 grams of high fructose corn syrup is 284 calories. It has about 76 grams of sugar. The other 24 grams is almost entirely water. These are all empty calories. • 100 grams of sweet corn is about 86 calories. It has about 19 grams of carbohydrates but only 3 grams of sugar. It also has 3 grams of dietary fiber, 3 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fat. It also Curriculum for Restoration Restorationpedagogy.com/curriculum

provides 3% of the vitamin A you need in a day, 11% of the vitamin C you need, and 3% of the iron. Almost none of those 86 calories are “empty.” • 100 grams of grain corn (like for making masa) is 284 calories. It has about 74g of carbohydrates and only 1 gram of sugar. It also has 7 grams of dietary fiber, 9 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat. It also provides 4% of the vitamin A you need in a day, 1% of the calcium you need, and 15% of the iron. Almost none of those 86 calories are “empty.” • In a previous lesson we talked about how nixtamalizing corn makes it healthier. It increases the bioavailability of niacin (Vitamin B) and protein in corn.

Does 100 grams of corn seem like a small or a big serving?

• We just learned that one 12 oz. bottle of soda has around 40 grams of sugar, usually from high fructose corn syrup. That is roughly 50 grams of high fructose corn syrup. That takes about 100 grams of corn to produce or around one ear of corn. All of the fat, protein, and fiber from that corn are wasted. In other words, we take everything healthy out of corn.

CALORIMETER ACTIVITY: We are going to do an activity to see how many calories are in certain foods. Energy never leaves earth, it only changes form.

How can we measure calories? What are some other types of energy that we can measure? Heat!

We are going to change the form of the energy in food from calories to heat. Sort of like how our bodies ‘burn’ calories to make energy. Since we can measure heat with a thermometer, we will be able to find out how many calories are in the food.

But how do we convert calories to heat? We burn the food!

• Ask students to make a predict which foods have more calories or more energy. Have students recall that carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories/gram and fat has 9 calories/gram. • Also have students predict which will burn fastest/slowest. Ask if they think that would be the same when your body ‘burns’ the calories. • Use homemade calorimeters to burn some corn, high fructose corn syrup, and hot Cheetos. (See attached lesson plan and procedure) • Calculate how many calories per gram in each. • I’ve heard someone else use the campfire analogy, not sure if I’ve used it accurately. o Ask students to imagine their body like a campfire. What happens if you throw a bunch of crumpled paper in the fire? It burns really fast and then goes out. Do you want that? That’s like the Cheetos or the corn syrup. It’s hard on your body. What about if you have a nice small fire with a few big logs? It will burn evenly and slowly for a long time. That’s like fats and proteins. You want to have a nice long lasting even burning fire. Curriculum for Restoration Restorationpedagogy.com/curriculum

NUTRITION LABELS • Luckily, you do not have to burn your food to know how much calories it has • Most foods, except fresh fruits and vegetables, have a nutrition label. o The nutrition label tells you how many calories the food has and where they come from o It also tells you about the vitamins and minerals in your food o How much sugar should you eat in a day? . This is kind of a trick question – food labels don’t say! The American Heart Association says 9.5 teaspoons per day. . 1 can of coke has 10 teaspoons! • Fresh fruits and vegetables usually don’t have a nutrition label, but you can look it up online. o It’s almost impossible to become unhealthy by eating too much fresh fruits and vegetables, though!

Activity: Pass out nutrition labels of corn products and compare and contrast.

CONCLUSION • We have talked a lot about respect. • With all that we have learned about corn and how special and important it is, do you think it is respectful to turn it into high fructose corn syrup? • Is it respectful to your body to consume too much sugar? o Too much sugar is one cause of obesity and diabetes. o Most of us eat too much sugar, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have any sugar at all • Health is about feeling good and being happy and a treat is ok sometimes. We just have to watch how much we eat. o If you eat sweets as a treat or reward, think about other treats/rewards you might use instead sometimes. o When you want something sweet, have a piece of fruit! It has sugar but also fiber and other things that are good for you! o Try drinking infused water instead of soda! o When you start eating better, you might notice that you feel better and have more energy. o You might even notice your brain working better! Your brain needs lots of vitamins and minerals and enough calories to work.