Corn Problems?

[bbdailey]

Hey everyone! So Ive been gluten-free for a while now but starting Dec 1 I went on a very strict elimination diet. Around Dec 20 I broke and made some gluten-free cookies and seemed to be fine. Multiple days later I wasnt feeling quite as good(nothing crazy just felt mentally not quite as good. On Dec 26 I reintroduced corn into my diet(honey nut chex) with no reactions. I have been eating it alot since but I feel like mentally Im not feeling quite as well. Im starting to wonder if corn is giving me a slow and almost silent reaction and bringing me down mentally days after. Anyone have similar experiences with corn?

[Jestgar]

I don't have mental issues (ok, some might say I do ) with corn, but my joint reaction is delayed by three days.

[ciamarie]

You might want to try something else that is just corn (like tortillas? or another brand of organic corn cereal), and see if it's any different. I generally react to things within a few hours, or less. I think I've read that the chex cereals are manufactured in the same facility as their gluten-y cereals. I avoid them because I believe the vitamin E they add as a preservative is from soy, though as I recall they don't have soy on the ingredient list. (Most vitamin E is derived from soy, afaict.) I also personally try to stick to organic corn items only, since otherwise there's a possibility that the corn is GMO, and they don't label it so you can tell the difference.

[Bubba's Mom]

I've been reading the book "Against the Grain". It tells the effect of various grains, including corn. If you think you're having a reaction to corn, reading that book will be a real eye-opener.

Maybe see if your library has a copy?

The Chex cereals are made on equipment that also processes wheat. It's possible to get a batch of sereal with trace CC.

[Aly1]

Interesting the timing of your post, I literally just read an old post that touched on exactly this. Go to and scroll down to Evangeline's post. It was an eye opener for me (I have corn issues too).

[domesticactivist]

My son is allergic to corn in the typical IgE sense but he also gets bad brain fog from it. We are all better off since cutting it and all grains from our diet. We are now on GAPS. There are a couple great sites out there with lists of all the things that contain corn. It doesn't get labeled consistently due to not being a top 8 allergen. Sticking to whole foods is the best way to completely avoid it.

The most surprising source is the citric acid wash used on USDA meat. (citric acid is usually corn derived these days) Fortunately our son doesn't have a severe reaction to such low levels, but when we buy USDA meat for a while it brings back his symptoms. Usually we buy oda meat farm direct and check with the slaughterhouse to make sure they do not use the citric acid on our meat.

[bartfull]

My corn reactions take between eight and twelve hours. But we are all different.

That citric acid wash made from corn is also used on bagged salads and other "pre-washed" veggies. Baby carrots are washed in this stuff, and some brands even dust their frozen vegetables with corn starch to keep them from sticking. Anything that is vitamin fortified, such as milk, most likely has corn in it because corn is the "carrier" of the vitamins. Corn is also the carrier of iodine in iodized salt. (I use only natural sea salt.) If you see something that mentions "flavor", whether it is "natural" or artificial, it is carried (most likely) on corn.

So, yeah, whole foods only is the way to go. Organic if possible, although even THAT doesn't guarantee that there won't be hidden corn somewhere.

[Skylark]

My milk reactions can take a couple days. If you're feeling "iffy" I'd go back to strictly corn-free and see if you get back to feeling well.

[bbdailey]

Thanks for the comments! I think I am going to cut corn out until I visit the allergist on Jan 13 and then hopefully I can get some kind of answers. I hope that it isnt corn because corn is in everything:(

[bbdailey]

If you have a corn allergy does that mean you cant have anything with corn in it? I thought I heard somewhere that some people can tolerate certain types of corn in certain cases.

[bartfull]

Some people CAN tolerate processed corn but not whole corn. Some are the opposite and have no trouble with whole corn, but can't tolerate the processed stuff. And then there are people like me who are extremely sensitive to corn in any form. (No wonder it takes so long to figure our diets out!)

[domesticactivist]

It depends. For my son, the symptoms from corn look like seasonal allergies. Any tiny amount of corn gives him these symptoms. It also makes him much more reactive to other things he's allergic to. When he had corn as a regular part of his diet he was always really inflamed, and his actual seasonal allergies blew him up like crazy. When he's off corn he can handle some grass pollen, weed pollen, tree pollen, etc. A runny, stuffy nose, puffy, itchy red eyes, dyslexia, and the occasional hives aren't going to harm him the way he'd be harmed by eating gluten. Some people with IgE reactions like my son typically have anaphylactic responses to some of the things they are allergic to. That would call for total avoidance. We try for total avoidance because he gets miserable symptoms, but we aren't completely fanatical about it because it's not a life or death situation.

[Aly1]

Wow there's so much to learn on this forum. I had no idea there was hidden corn everywhere! This makes me rethink things a lot - I regularly find myself with a runny nose at dinner and can't figure out where it might have come from (that's a typical corn reaction for me, as are joint pains). Great posts.

[Skylark]

My dairy issues seem dose-related. I got the wrong plate of scrambled eggs by mistake over vacation and they had a little milk. I didn't notice any reaction. That led me to think maybe I could have a nice slice of cheese and there was brie around. I thought I got away with it yesterday, but then the fog hit today. Oops. The brie was almost worth feeling crummy.