Cooking sweet corn boosts disease-fighting...( time. To find the ferulic acid a ...)

To find the ferulic acid, a long-known antioxidant in grains, Liu and his colleagues cooked sweet corn at 115 degrees Celsius (239 F) for 10, 25 and 50 minutes. Ferulic acid amounts increased by 240 percent, 550 percent and 900 percent, respectively."Ferulic acid, a phytochemical, is unique in that it is found in very low amounts in fruits and vegetables, but is found in very high levels in corn. You find it mostly in grains," says Liu. "Ferulic acid, which is good for you, is found mainly in its bound form. Cook the sweet corn and the amount of ferulic acid increases a lot. When you cook it, you release it, and what you are losing in vitamin C, you are gaining in ferulic acid and total antioxidant activity."

Liu, who previously studied apples and tomatoes, says corn is quite a different model. "The tomato is rich in lycopene but has very low amounts of phenolic compounds. Sweet corn is very high in phenolics," he says.

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Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
bpf2@cornell.edu
607-255-3290
Cornell University News Service
9-Aug-2002