A Corn Epidemic
Imagine everything you ate looked like corn. Your burgers are corn, your cereal is corn, your ice cream is corn, even your steak is corn. This is what America’s food industry is shaping up to be, everything being made from corn. Over 10,000 pounds of corn can make 57,348 cans of soda, 3,894 burgers from meat that is corn fed, 2,301 pounds of bacon, or 6,726 boxes of cereal. Corn has become the ‘King’ of all crops, because of its widespread use in food. There is a major lack of variety nowadays since corn is a major ingredient in everything. Corn is changing the food industry for the worst, and we should cut down our use of corn in everything for more variety and a major decrease in the obesity rate. Many researchers at various Universities say that high fructose corn syrup is the same as sugar and there is no evidence to suggest that it is linked to an increase in obesity. In “Fat Land” by Greg Critser, he talks about America’s obesity problem, which included high fructose corn syrup as a topic of discussion. Critser states that when Coca-Cola switched from sugar
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An FDA researcher wanted to do testing for contaminants in high fructose corn syrup and requested a barrel from various companies, but was denied until she made up a guise as a new and upcoming soda company, and was eventually sent a barrel of high fructose corn syrup. Testing was done and the data showed that there is toxic amounts of mercury in high fructose corn syrup. This is because of the chlor-alkali process used in its manufacturing, which uses mercury. Additionally, when high fructose corn syrup is ran through a chemical analyzer, various peaks of unknown chemicals show up that are not fructose or glucose. No one knows if these chemicals are toxic, but this calls into question of how “natural” high fructose corn syrup
Imagine this, it is the 1800’s and you’re shopping for sugar. You see the sweet, pure white sugar and look down. Wham! The price makes your stomach drop. You need a cup of sugar, and the price is five dollars per teaspoon. That’s two-hundred and forty dollars, and you only have two dollars with you! In the articles, How Candy Conquered America by Lauren Tarshis and This Cupcake is Trying to Hurt You by Kristin Lewis and Lauren Tarshis it talks about how the consumption of sugar changes over time from the 1800’s to today. Two ways sugar consumption in the United States differed in the 1800’s than today is how much sugar we eat and how it affects our bodies.
The U.S. government spends billions of dollars every year subsidizing corn production, livestock feed, processed foods, and ethanol production account for the greatest uses of corn in the United States. Supplying the livestock and processed food industries with cheap corn ultimately leads to an American diet that is heavily based on the consumption of meat and sugary processed foods. This diet is thought to contribute to America’s obesity epidemic. Corn subsidies also encourage production of ethanol. Ethanol may be no better than fossil fuels because of the required energy inputs and the environmental damage caused by its production.
Jon Gabriel explains how sugar has become an addictive drug like nicotine, the only difference is that its legal. Once we become hooked on it we become habituated to its effects and need more and more to satisfy ourselves. As a result of the increase in marketing and the on going dependence on sugary foods and beverages, children are taking in more and more sugar and obtaining less and less nutrients. According to Gentry Lasater,
In the first third of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, he draws the reader in by bringing to light many interesting facts about corn that most individuals may not realize. He states that the majority of food that people consume contains corn. Although people of Mexican descent are usually referred to as the “corn people”, Americans have now surpassed them in the amount of corn consumed in their daily diet. Corn is consumed in a variety of forms and many of the animals that are eaten by Americans, such as the chicken, pig, turkey, and lamb are fed corn. When a person eats these animals, he or she is essentially increasing their corn intake, and in most cases without even realizing it. The corn crop has spread vastly and is massively produced because it is efficient. Unlike other crop plants, corn can survive in harsh weather conditions and it is light and easy to transport. Maize is also self-fertilized and pollinated by wind, and it has evolved over time and continues to evolve, into new forms and new uses.
Currently, the United States is the largest producer of corn in the world. In 2010, it produced 32% of the world’s corn crop. Corn is grown on approximately 400,000 U.S. farms, showing the importance of corn in the United States’ diets. Twenty percent of the corn produced is exported and corn grown for grain accounts for almost one quarter of the harvested crop acres in this country (National Corn Grower's Associatio...
The ultimate goal should be to change the American diet of mostly processed foods to a diet of mostly organic foods. Freedman (2013) is focusing too much on obesity rather than on the general health of Americans when he states, “I happened to catch Bittman on the Today show last year demonstrating for millions of viewers four ways to prepare corn in the summertime, including a lovely dish of corn sautéed in bacon fat and topped with bacon. Anyone who thinks that such a thing is much healthier than a Whopper just hasn’t been paying attention to obesity science for the past few decades” (p. 513). It would seem Freedman condemns this dish as unhealthy because of the bacon fat and bacon added to the corn. If the bacon used in the corn was organic it would not contain the additives that the beef patty used in making the Whopper has, thus making it a much healthier choice for the body than the
Abstract: The use of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in various food and drink products has drastically affected the American people in the last three decades. Dominating 55% of the sweetener market because of its industrial benefits, HFCS’s increased use has caused dramatic effects in its consumers, including upsetting normal hormonal functions, destroying vital organs, nerves, and throwing off the body’s mineral balance. As the use of HFCS increased, the rates of obesity, diabetes, and related health problems have escalated, resulting in a nationwide epidemic.
“Fat Land”, a book by Greg Cristler, a health journalist who was formerly considered overweight, explains how America became the fattest people in the world. Before writing this book, Cristler was told that he needed to lose forty pounds and so to do so he enlisted a competent doctor, the prescription weight-loss medication Meridia, jogs in a congenial neighborhood park, a wife who cooked him healthy food, and access to plenty of information. Cristler is quick to add that those weren’t the only factors that led to his weight loss, but money and time were a big part of it. Cristler lost the weight, but he states “the more I contemplated my success, the more I came to see it not as a triumph of the will, but as a triumph of my economic and social
Given the amount of resources that the world as a whole has access to why use corn as a source of fuel? Some would say that countries, such as the United States have an overabundance of food produce. Logically, those countries that have an over surplus of food MUST have enough to put a dent into the rapidly increasing costs of oil and gasoline. Unfortunately, that is a misconception. In order to produce enough corn to fuel the global economy it is important to analyze what that actually means for farmers and the government, not to mention the actual food supply. In order to produce corn ethanol, we must first grow an abundance of corn. Simple right? Wrong, corn is very draining on the soil it is grown, which, in short, means that whomever is growing the corn would have to rotate the corn plantation with something that will restore the nutrients of the soil. Unfortunately, that takes both time and money to do. The task would cal...
High fructose corn syrup is known to proliferate levels of uric acid; it also can raise lactic acid levels (Buist), which leads to muscle cramps. The intake of corn syrup creates a higher risk for heart disease. It also produces “oxidative damage” to the body, depriving cells of oxygen, which in turn speeds up the aging process (Buist). Fructose is broken down by the liver, so the the liver has to pause its production of insulin in order to break down the sugar. This can lead to diabetes and weight gain. High fructose corn syrup also impedes the breakdown of copper, which also can lead to diabetes, heart attacks, and thyroid problems (Buist). Ingesting this sugar ...
Though corn has always been part of the American diet, it has infiltrated areas of food and other goods that seem unlikely for it to belong. It can be altered to be present in both foods and products not for human consumption. Corn really can be labeled as the crop that built America. It definitely has many uses. Some could argue that it has too many uses.
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
Fast food consumption is taking America by a storm and it is for the sake of our lives. Fast food relies heavily on industrialized corn because of how cheap and easy to grow it is. With that being said, animals are being fed with corn rather than being fed with grass. In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Rich Blair who runs a “cow-calf” operation s...
Corn is a high commodity in the U.S; our ham, eggs and pancakes for breakfast, California BLT at lunch, or double cheese hamburger for dinner were all produced with U.S. Cor...
A surprising fact is that most of the corn we produce in the United States is not actually eaten. In 2008 the United States produced a total of 12.1 million bushels of maize. Of that 5.2 million was used as livestock feed, 3.6 million for ethanol production, 1.8 million for exporting, .9 million for production of starch, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and oils, and finally .3 million for human consumption in grits, flour, alcohol, etc.