The presence of cornbread in many southern households is wonderful, but this raises the question: is cornbread good for you? Cornbread is a staple in the south, given its abundance of corn and the lack of wheat and rye. Cornbread both tastes delicious and is filling.
Cornbread contains a lot of nutritional benefits that can help give a holistic and complete diet. So far, the USDA has not raised any concerns regarding the health risks of cornbread. However, there have been issues with cornbread and weight gain.
What is cornbread, and is cornbread healthy? What are the nutritional benefits of cornbread? These are a few of the questions that we will talk about in this article.
What Is Cornbread?
Cornbread is considered a quick bread as it does not contain yeast. Commonly eaten in the Southern United States for their abundance of corn crops, many households usually make it with cornmeal (dried corn grounded into flour) instead of conventional all-purpose flour.
While many traditional iterations of cornbread compose cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and baking powder, many recipes also call for hog products such as bacon and ham hog fat. However, most commercial cornbread bakeries utilize an all-purpose flour and cornmeal mix instead of purely cornmeal.
What Are The Common Types?
Baked Cornbread
Baked cornbread is the most popular type of cornbread. It’s being used as a side dish for many suppers, especially when accompanied by butter. For this article, we will be focusing on baked cornbread as it is commonly associated with the cornbread name.
Corn Pone Cornbread
Corn pone or “Indian pone” is made from a thick, malleable cornmeal dough, typically egg- and milk-free. Traditional chefs cook corn pone cornbread in an iron pan over an open fire (as a frontiersman would use), primarily with bacon grease and butter, margarine, shortening, or cooking oil.
Crackling Bread
Cracklings are small pieces of fat (e.g. pork or poultry) that have been fried until brown and crispy. Cornbread with pig cracklings inside is a traditional Southern meal. One may make it in any technique, but utilizing the skillet is the most common since it allows the cornbread to crisp up more.
What Are The Nutritional Benefits?
Before we elaborate on the health benefits of cornbread, let us get into the nitty-gritty section and look at the numbers. The USDA supplies the data below. (source)
Nutritional Benefits Of Cornbread per 100 gram serving:
- 330 kilocalories
- 2.3 grams of fiber
- 6.59 grams of protein
- 16 grams of sugar
- 17 milligrams of magnesium
- 1.85 milligrams of calcium
- 133 milligrams of potassium
- Trace minerals such as zinc, selenium, vitamin C, and B6.
Is Cornbread Fattening?
There are a lot of stories about cornbread being incredibly fattening. The 330 kilocalories per 100-gram serving statistic from the USDA sure does not alleviate that worry. However, can cornbread make you fat?
Thankfully, cornbread is not fattening per se, meaning there are no ingredients in it that are especially fat-inducing. However, eating cornbread in large amounts or in excess can contribute significantly to weight gain. A fun fact is that bread has the same calories per ounce as protein, implying the bread itself does not hasten weight gain.
The good thing with cornbread is that cornbread can trick your body into feeling fuller. You, as a result, will not crave food as often, and as such, will result in lower calorie intake.
Is Cornbread Good For People With Diabetes?
Cornbread is relatively high in carbs, which means it can cause an unwanted rise in blood sugar levels. As such, is cornbread good for you, especially for those with diabetes?
Cornmeal, the prominent ingredient bakers use to substitute flour in cornbread, has a glycemic index of 69. While this number is not considered dangerously high, it is higher than what doctors typically recommend. (source) For commercially bought cornbread, people with diabetes may enjoy it once in a while, as long as they eat it with a balanced meal filled to the brim with protein and fibers. For people that bake their cornbread at home, limit or forbid the use of sugar in the recipe. This process alone can severely inhibit the glycemic index of cornbread.
Is Cornbread High In Phosphorus?
To answer the question about whether cornbread is good for you, let us explore the presence of one of the essential minerals in cornbread, phosphorus. Phosphorus is a naturally present mineral in food and is also available as a dietary supplement. So how much phosphorus does cornbread have?
Cornbread contains a lot of phosphorus, as a 100-gram serving can fulfill 20% of your daily phosphorus requirement. Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in the body and is involved in maintaining multiple body parts. (source)
Phosphorus, along with calcium, are the building blocks of your bones. They also regulate the pH of the body. If the body cannot produce enough phosphorus or your diet does not have enough of it, you are at risk of a phosphorus deficiency.
Is Cornbread High In Protein?
According to USDA data, cornbread has 6.59 grams of protein per 100-gram serving. Additionally, protein is a nutrient built through building blocks called amino acids. Amino acids are integral to repairing muscles and bones while producing enzymes (biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions such as digestion) and hormones (the body’s control structure). As you can see, proteins are vital, playing different roles from bodybuilding to digestion. (source)
An average person would need 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram. So a person weighing 75 kilograms would need around 60 grams of protein daily. A 75-kilogram person eating a 100-gram serving of cornbread would get approximately 10% of their daily protein requirement. (source)
Is Cornbread Bad For Digestion?
There is an ongoing debate about whether corn is suitable for your diet or not– as a trip to the restroom after a heavy meal of corn leaves you with undigested bits. Why is that, and is cornbread bad for digestion? And if it is bad for digestion, is cornbread good for you?
According to experts, corn is not necessarily bad for digestion, as is cornbread. Although some parts of corn go undigested, not all functions of corn are indigestible. According to Andrea Watson, a ruminant nutritionist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the indigestible part of the corn is the kernel’s outer coating. Because corn kernels are seeds, they actively protect the sensitive interests through the waxy substance making corn harder to infiltrate for pests. (source)
This indigestible material is called cellulose. Cellulose only makes up 10% of the corn’s total content. The good news is that since cornmeal (the main component of cornbread) is processed thoroughly, it will be unlikely that you will encounter unprocessed chunks of cellulose upon doing number two.
What Is The Selenium In Cornbread?
Is cornbread good for you, and what is selenium’s purpose in cornbread? Selenium is a nutrient needed in trace amounts, approximately 55 micrograms daily. A 100-gram serving of cornbread satisfies 10% of the required daily count of selenium. Selenium protects your body from free radicals by reducing oxidative damage and inflammation. (source)
What To Consider When Eating Cornbread
Cornbread can be good for you, but there are some things to consider when eating it. Although cornbread is not inherently “unhealthy,” some problems may appear when not consumed properly.
One of the issues with cornbread is its calorie content. Cornbread is not fattening, but it is easy to over-consume or go overboard with cornbread as their serving sizes are small. Carbohydrates are not bad, but they can be fattening when not consumed in a proper amount. Cornbread, in particular, can have more than 300 calories per 100-gram serving. (source)
Gluten
Technically, gluten is not bad for your body, but specific individuals may not respond well to it. People with celiac disease, or those that have an immune response (allergy) to gluten, may have harsh effects upon eating gluten-filled cornbread. However, if you are a healthy individual with no previous history of gluten sensitivity, gluten-free food will not be “healthier” for you. (source)
Please be aware that most commercial cornbread is made with cornmeal mixed with all-purpose flour to create a chewier loaf. As such, most commercial cornbread is not gluten-free.
Here you can read more about cornbread and gluten.
High Sugar Content
Another gripe with commercial cornbread is its high sugar content. While in homemade cornbread, one can control the amount of sugar added, most commercial cornbread, will have high sugar content as sugar will certainly “up” the flavor profiles.
Is Cornbread High In Fiber?
Fiber is an exception to the rule that the stomach may break down most carbs into simple sugar molecules called glucose. Fiber, unlike most carbohydrates, cannot be broken down by the body and is not digested.
Fiber, however, can control and slow down the body’s sugar consumption due to being indigestible. As a result, it helps prevent blood sugar drops and keeps hunger at bay. The average person needs 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day. (source)
Cornbread has a lot of carbohydrates and may have a respectable amount of sugar. While it may have more than 300 calories per 100-gram serving, it only has 2 grams of fiber of the same serving size. As such, while a 100-gram serving of cornbread satisfies 15% of the daily calorie requirement, it only has enough fiber to meet 5% of the total daily requirement.
Some Last Words
So is cornbread good for you? Cornbread contains many important nutrients, including B vitamins, selenium, and phosphorus. So although it is also relatively high in carbs, you can still make it a part of a healthy diet – just do it in moderation.
Making your own cornbread clearly gives you the advantage of controlling both ingredients and amount. So if you can´t find the right bread at your local store, maybe it´s time to take out the baking equipment.
Ready to make your own cornbread? Have a look at our Sweet Cornbread recipe.
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