Corn grits

Calories
Corn grits are a moderate calorie food. Half a cup of corn kernels — about 4.5 ounces — contains 91 calories. This makes up approximately 5 percent of a person’s total daily calories on a 2,000-calorie diet, or about 6 percent for a 1,500-calorie diet. If you add toppings to corn kernels, the calorie content will increase. Just adding two teaspoons of butter to your grits adds 68 calories to your meal, and adding a quarter cup of skim milk increases the grits’ energy content by 21 calories.
Carbohydrates
The majority of calories in corn grits, about 82 percent, come from the food’s carbohydrate content. Each half-cup serving of corn grits contains about 19 grams of total carbohydrates, including 1 gram of dietary fiber, 18.5 grams of starch, and less than a gram of sugar. Both the starch and sugar in corn kernels serve as energy sources—your digestive system digests the starch to form sugar, which your cells can use to produce usable chemical energy. The modest amount of dietary fiber found in corn kernels also benefits your health, helping to add bulk to your stool and prevent constipation.
Protein and fat
Corn kernels contain very small amounts of protein and fat. Eating half a cup of grits provides your body with about 0.5 grams of protein and less than 0.1 grams of fat. As a result, you should not rely on corn grits as a source of these nutrients in your diet. In addition to containing only a small amount of protein per serving, the protein in corn kernels is considered an incomplete protein – it is deficient in the amino acids that are an essential part of your diet. Serving corn kernels with a quarter cup of skim milk increases the protein content of the food, adding 2 grams to your meal. Additives can also boost the fat content of the grits; Adding 2 teaspoons of butter to your grits adds nearly 8 grams of fat to your meal, including 5 grams of unhealthy saturated fat.
Vitamins and minerals
Consumption of corn grits modestly increases vitamin and mineral intake. Gravels contain many B vitamins, as well as a small amount of vitamin E. They also provide a particularly good source of folic acid, or vitamin B-9, an important nutrient for maintaining the body’s metabolism. Each half-cup serving contains 36 milligrams of folic acid, or 9 percent of the recommended daily intake of the vitamin, according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Gravel also contains several minerals, including selenium, zinc, potassium, and phosphorus. Adding yogurt can increase its vitamin and mineral content. Both butter and milk increase your intake of vitamins A and D, and milk contains bone-healthy calcium.