Vegetables and everything else
Sweet corn on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 3.3 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), kernels, cooked, for around 95 calories. Half a cup of kernels, about 80 g (2.8 oz), gives roughly 3 g of protein for 76 calories.
How sweet corn sits on a GLP-1
Sweet corn is about 3.3 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz) and mostly starch and sugar, so it behaves like a carbohydrate rather than a vegetable. On a GLP-1 corn on the cob is a lot of chewing and a lot of bulk, and the kernel skins pass through a slow gut largely as they went in. A few spoons of kernels in a soup or a salad is fine and sweet, and the sweetness helps when savoury food is unappealing. It is a side and a small one.
When your appetite is small
Use tinned or frozen kernels by the spoon rather than a cob. Two tablespoons stirred into a chicken soup, a tuna salad or a small bowl of fried rice adds sweetness and colour for about 2 g, and the corn is never the reason the bowl fills you. A cob before the protein is the version that leaves the chicken uneaten.
Three ways to prepare it
A spoon of kernels in a chicken and corn soup
Shredded chicken, stock, a little corn, an egg stirred through. The corn makes it taste sweet and familiar; the chicken and egg make it about 25 g.
Stirred into a tuna and mayonnaise salad
A tablespoon of corn through tinned tuna and mayonnaise. Sweet against salty, and still a 25 g bowl.
Creamed corn under a poached egg
A small ramekin of creamed corn warmed with a poached egg and cheese on top. Soft, sweet, about 12 g, and easy on a flat morning.
What to eat it with
Chicken, tuna, eggs, cheese, butter, lime and chilli. Corn is the sweet note in a savoury bowl, and it should be a spoonful, not the base.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet corn | about 3.3 g | 95 kcal | this page |
| Peas | about 5 g | 80 kcal | See the page |
| Potato | about 2 g | 90 kcal | See the page |
| Brown rice | about 2.6 g | 120 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, kernels, cooked, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Sweet corn or corn in all three countries, on the cob, frozen or tinned as kernels. Creamed corn in a tin is common in Australia and the US. Maize is the crop name in the UK and elsewhere; polenta and cornmeal are dried, ground corn and carry a little more protein per 100 g dry.
Questions people ask
Is corn a vegetable or a carbohydrate?
On the plate it behaves like a starch: about 3.3 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz) and mostly carbohydrate. A few spoons of kernels in a protein dish is a good use of it; a cob before the protein fills the room the protein needed.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.