Sweetcorn
Avoid — On the avoid list of the leaflet this book follows, or restricted almost everywhere.
The husks pass undigested. This is a classic cause of blockages.
Each kernel of sweetcorn is wrapped in a tough outer skin made of material the human gut cannot break down. Most people have seen the evidence for this without needing a leaflet to explain it. The kernel goes in whole and comes out whole.
That makes sweetcorn a mechanical hazard rather than a fibre one, and it is why it appears on avoid lists that otherwise disagree with each other about almost everything.
Where hospitals differ
They do not. Sweetcorn is on the avoid list of the leaflet this book follows, on the Oxford ileostomy blockage list and on every other list compared for this book. It is one of a short group, along with nuts, seeds, popcorn, dried fruit, mushrooms and celery, where the sources are unanimous.
Blending does not help
This is worth stating plainly, because it is a reasonable thing to assume. A blender does not break a kernel skin down reliably, and a soup made from blended sweetcorn still carries fragments of it. Neither does creamed sweetcorn from a tin, which contains whole kernels alongside the purée. Sweetcorn is out in every form, including popcorn, cornmeal that is coarse or wholegrain, and the corn in a mixed frozen vegetable bag.
Cornflour, cornflakes and fine polenta are different products entirely. The hull has been removed from those, and they are allowed.
What to use instead
For sweetness in a soup, carrot or butternut squash peeled, deseeded and cooked soft. For colour, a spoonful of passata. There is no direct substitute for sweetcorn and it is better to build the dish another way than to look for one.
Swaps
- Instead of Sweetcorn, use Leave out
- Sweetcorn husks pass through the gut whole, and blending does not break them down enough to make it safe on this diet.