Corn subsidies make unhealthy food choices the rational ones

[JBeukema]

A big reason that food products derived from corn are so pervasive in America's diet today is that for decades taxpayers have given corn growers incentives to grow as much as possible through the skewed federal farm subsidy system. The $73.8 billion lavished on corn since 1995 has helped to churn out a host of cheap and unhealthy foods -- from chips to sugary sodas to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Hold on: Make that "corn sugar." With consumers souring on HFCS, the Corn Refiners Association has embarked on a re-branding effort, as Tom Laskawy mocked, to prop up the lagging sales of the calorie-laden sweetener that's found in nearly all cheap processed foods.

Many of the factors that contribute to the nation's broken food and farm system, like perverse subsidies for commodity grain growers, were exposed in a September 5 Denver Post article. In "Spoiled system: Eating healthier comes with a price for families," reporter Karen Auge explored the factors that make fresh fruits and vegetables costlier than highly subsidized and less healthy foods based on corn and soy:

Corn subsidies make unhealthy food choices the rational ones | Grist

 

[Revere]

The most unfit people in this country are on some sort of food aid, and they get their food for free.

 

[Mr. H.]

The mere existence of so-called subsidies alone doesn't account for the proliferation of corn derived ingredients in foods. It's the result of a powerfully connected industry hell-bent on finding markets for its products.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Corn is unhealthy?

 

[antagon]

i dont buy this deflection bullshit. i'm an american just like everyone else and ive had a six pack since i was 10. corn is plenty healthful. so are the sugars made from it. you just cant eat and drink as much as you want to, then sit down and complain about media images of fit people and corn subsidies making you fat.

go for a run. repeat daily.

 

[Mr. H.]

go for a run. repeat daily.

What- no rinse?

 

[JBeukema]

Corn is unhealthy?

Comprehension fail

your functional illiteracy strikes again