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Earth Eats

Corn as medicine?

By Kayte Young
Published January 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM EST
Funmi Ayeni has been interested in food-as-medicine since she was a child. Now, as a scientist, she has the chance to test her theories about the relationship between diet and disease management.
Kayte Young/WFIU
Funmi Ayeni has been interested in food-as-medicine since she was a child. Now, as a scientist, she has the chance to test her theories about the relationship between diet and disease management.

Have you ever had a hunch about something, tested it out and been shocked by the results? That’s what happened to pharmaceutical microbiologist Funmi Ayeni.

She took a traditional Nigerian home remedy and applied the rigors of scientific research to test its efficacy. The results were nothing short of jaw-dropping.

This week on Earth Eats, a conversation with Funmi Ayeni about food research that could end up saving lives.

Funmi Ayeni is Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health at Indiana University.

You can read about her astonishing study on the anti-malarial properties of fermented milled corn water here:

Evaluation of in vivo anti-malarial potential of omidun obtained from fermented maize in Ibadan, Nigeria

Music on this Episode

The Earth Eats theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.

Additional music on this episode from Universal Production Music.

Credits:

The Earth Eats’ team includes: Eoban Binder, Alexis Carvajal, Alex Chambers, Toby Foster, Daniella Richardson, Samantha Shemenaur, Payton Whaley and Harvest Public Media.

Earth Eats is produced, engineered and edited by Kayte Young. Our executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.

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Kayte Young
Kayte Young discovered her passion for growing, cooking, foraging and preserving fresh food when she moved to Bloomington in 2007. With a background in construction, architecture, nutrition education and writing, she brings curiosity and a love of storytelling to a show about all things edible. Kayte raises bees, a small family and a yard full of food in Bloomington’s McDoel Gardens neighborhood.
See stories by Kayte Young