COLUMBIA, Mo. — Americans love their corn — whether it’s canned, fresh off the cob or in their favorite breakfast cereal.
But what if this staple grain could be more than just a starch? What if it could become a critical source of protein and fiber while helping prevent cancer, obesity, diabetes and inflammation?
It can, University of Missouri researchers say. And the secret is in the color.
Assistant Professor Pavel Somavat and his team are analyzing dozens of varieties of corn, comparing the nutritional properties of blue, red and purple maize to traditional yellow dent corn.
They’re working with Sherry Flint-Garcia, a research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service who studies heirloom corn at Mizzou’s South Farm.
For the past three years, she’s also grown different varieties of colored corn for Somavat’s work.
“We’re identifying the best varieties and providing feedback she uses to decide which varieties to breed for the next cycle,” said Somavat, who has joint appointments in Mizzou’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the College of Engineering. “We’re looking at the make-up of the corn and how it responds to Midwestern climates, as well as how we can add value to the corn by developing new uses for it.”
A dark purple corn, known as Maiz Morado and found in South America, is proving to be the healthiest. The corn itself is edible, and the outer layer of the kernels contains more antioxidants than found in blueberries, as well as flavonoids, phenolic acids, tannins and other beneficial chemicals that can easily be extracted for other novel applications in the food industry, adding value to the crop.
Right now, though, Maiz Morado doesn’t grow well in Missouri’s climate, Flint-Garcia said. Throughout the project, she’s had to repeatedly cross Maiz Morado with yellow corn to create pure breeding temperate adapted lines. Then she will cross these pure breeding lines to create hybrids that produce full-sized purple ears of corn. It will take additional work to ensure the corn yield is high enough to turn a profit.
