Word: corns
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...question is trickier than it seems. Although U.S. taxpayers subsidize American farmers generously--to the tune of $20 billion a year--that's not likely to change anytime soon. Besides, corn is so cheap that even a farm policy that doubled the crop's price might make only a marginal difference in grocery-store prices...
...produces so much corn so cheaply that Americans have become quite clever at inventing uses for it, from fuel to power cars and trucks to the polymers in plastics. But most of all, we eat it. Our cats and dogs eat it. Even the cattle, chicken, hogs and fish that we eat eat it. In the form of high-fructose corn syrup, it is cheaper than sugar and as ubiquitous as advertising. Harvesting about 286 million tons of corn a year is no accident. It's U.S. industrial policy...
...brainer, say nutritionists. They see a simple progression. As much as 57% of the corn we produce becomes inexpensive animal feed that helps keep meat prices down. But it also makes the meat fattier--and consumers fatter--than if the animals were fed grass...
About 5% of our corn is refined to high-fructose corn syrup, which is cheaper, sweeter and, because it is a liquid, easier to transport and mix into foods than sugar. Beverage and food manufacturers see that low price as a signal to use the high-fructose cocktail in virtually everything, substituting it for more nutritious ingredients--not just for sugar--in peanut butter, fruit juices and spaghetti sauce...
...corn refiners say it's a mistake to blame their products for obesity. They note that in countries that consume almost none of the syrup, such as Mexico and Russia, obesity is still a problem. Corn growers and refiners also insist that the body treats sugar and high-fructose corn syrup identically, an argument that has recently been challenged by scientists studying sugar metabolism at the molecular level...