Yellow Corn Battles Blue Light

Over in Australia Sweet corn is currently the subject matter for health researchers. One of the most popular veggies for the nation it is now thought that it could soon become a paramount ingredient for the management of age - related macular degeneration.

The yellow coloured part of  the corn holds the magic ingredient needed by the scientists. That ingredient is the pigment  Zeaxanthin which naturally occurs in the corn.

They have discovered that this pigment helps to block out blue light from reaching the underlying structures of the retina which in turn assists in reducing the risk of oxidative damage which is light induced. It's this that leads to macular degeneration.

 The exciting part of this is that the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Development have now discovered a variety of corn that holds seven times the normal amount of the Zeaxanthin. With assistance from QAAFI some of the new varieties of the corn are very close to being released commercially.