How to Cook Corn Porridge for Nutrition

Corn is nutritionally rich, containing abundant amounts of protein, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, unsaturated fatty acids, lecithin, etc. Among them, niacin is particularly beneficial to health. However, the niacin in corn does not exist alone but combines with other substances making it difficult for the human body to absorb and utilize. There's a small trick when cooking corn—adding a little baking soda can release the niacin so that it can be fully utilized by the body.
Niacin is also known as nicotinic acid, playing an important role in the metabolism of proteins, fats, and sugars. Lack of niacin in the human body may lead to mental symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, etc., digestive issues like angular cheilitis, glossitis, diarrhea, and skin problems like pellagra.
millet is an important way for us to obtain niacin. The amount of niacin in corn is much higher than that in rice, but they are almost completely unable to release it through regular cooking methods.Experiments have shown that adding a small amount of baking soda when making cornmeal steamed buns or boiling corn porridge can release about half of the niacin. At the same time, baking soda also helps preserve vitamin B1 and vitamin B2 in corn, preventing nutritional losses. In addition, reasonable dietary combinations when eating corn with foods rich in niacin such as beans,rice, wheat can further increase the utilization of protein in corn. These grains contain more free-type niacin, which can significantly improve the protein utilization rate in corn. At the same time, baking soda can help preserve vitamin B1 and vitamin B2 in corn, avoiding nutritional losses.
Additionally, when eating corn, it can be eaten together with foods rich in niacin such as beans, rice,wheat etc. The niacin in these grains is mostly free-form, which can significantly improve the utilization of protein in corn.