How Corn Makes You Fat

The answer (please don't laugh) is ethanol. No, really. The same high fructose corn syrup that makes Coke sweet can be fermented (and probably will be). This can make ethanol, which can go into gas tanks instead of junk food. The best part is that it will drive up the price of HFCS, making junk food as expensive as healthy food.

I've always been interested in the fact that Sen. Tom Harkin has been behind many resolutions and efforts to curb childhood obesity, but I have never heard him address the effect of HFCS on the problem. He, of course, is from Iowa, the corn state.

HFCS should be banned, in my opinion, along with trans fats.

Not to burst your bubble squeezebox, but that same corn that is used to produce HFCS is ALSO used to make ethanol. It makes both from one kernel and there are other biproducts that they take out of it still yet. And after that, the corn is still not done, they resell the unused portion to farmers for feed.

Ethanol is also terrible because the corn is subsidised, and then the ethanol itself is subsidised on top of that. Ethanol is destroying our food prices and not helping with fuel costs.

Cut the subsidies, period. Farmers are making a killing with prices as they are now. It won't kill the corn industry but it'll make people make smarter choices as far as food, alternative fuel, etc.

We've known for a while that a surplus of corn being turned into high fructose corn syrup and incorporated into far too many foods makes for a less healthy diet. We've also known that farm subsidies sought out by massive commercial farms weaving the good old yarn about Joe Farmer getting up before dawn to milk his chickens and collect eggs from his cows (sorry, couldn't help myself), have created a vicious cycle of corn overproduction and over-dependency.

For the sake of our waistlines and our health, we should give farmers the tools and financial incentives to plant other things. Soy, alfalfa, things that doctors and nutritionists agree are good for us. Maybe even encourage investment in free range farming with a minimal use of animal antibiotics. If we, the taxpayers are doomed to give away money to farm subsidies, let's use this money as leverage to encourage better farming practices that will benefit our health. We as consumers shouldn't let the government dictate our food choices for the benefit of companies who sell us what we eat.

Of course, expect our lawmakers and the commercial interests dependent on corn being the crop of choice to organize a push back. Lawmakers and corporations who depend on the government to help them do business are afraid of change, regardless of how beneficial this change might be.

HFCS is certainly a problem and related to the biggest problem of all, the availability of junk food and fast food throughout the country.

It takes some thought and planning to reach for the right foods, not too mention limiting the intake. I like an occassional bag of chips myself, but have to buy four times what I want because they won't sell single-serving bags any longer.

Have to eat on the road? Good luck finding something healthy. I bring a lunch to work everyday because there are so few healthly choices out there.

It's ashame that the U.S. Government won't step-up and help, and no surprise either.

I'm one of those overweight people. 6'1" and 285Lbs. I did get back down to 220 once, but overtime and poor habits for about 4 weeks doomed me. Normally I exercise several times a week, usually running about 8 miles +/-4, and adding maybe a hike or weightlifting here or there. My diet is pretty good, though one can always improve, and I'm trying to eat less at every meal. History, though: i've been on extremely low fat, low calorie diets before. I've found that they way i lose weight is heavy exercise 60-90 minutes per day, 6 days per week. Diet, or light exercise does not work very well at all for me. With two kids, one special needs, a wife in school, and a demanding job, that's a herculean task, and I'm lucky if i make it half way there. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have been more vigilant about the weight, but it really does sneak up on you. Once it's on, it's really tough to keep off. The irony of it is watching my skinny little father in law eat three times what I do for dinner, with never a care in the world. Genetics play a big role too.

HFCS = Obesity. Prove it. Prove, prove it, prove it. All evidence on this notion is circumstantial. Does that mean there is not merit to this theory - no. It just means this THEORY has yet to be proven. Let's keep things in check here. And no, I'm not a farmer, and yes, I believe subsidies are completely contrary to tenets of capitalism. But still, HFCS = Obesity, prove it.

It is hard to walk into a grocery store or go to a restaurant and buy or eat anything without getting fat or unhealthy...Three things to avoid when you read the labels...Sugar and salt..Don't eat baked goods of any kind, milk if your over thirty, ground beef, fruit drinks which contain high fructose corn syrup, bread of any kind since most of it is bad, processed meat of any kind that they sell at the deli counter, cannned vegetables of any kind which are heavily salted, canned fruit of any kind (too sugary)---buy only fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables without added salt sugar or "cheese" remove the skin before cooking chicken, use only leanest cuts of meat (i know it costs more just eat less) , soda pop of any kind, processed breakfast cereals of any kind, be skeptical of granola bars, yogurt with added fruit (get plain or vanilla only and add fresh fruit), soups (packadged soups are too salty) raman noodles--get rid of that crap oriental salty garbage...canned fruits of any kind..canned soups--too fatty and too salty...margarine and butter--do not cook your eggs/omlette with margarine or butter--do not cook anything with margarine or butter...use heatstable olive oil spray on and use a teflon coated aluminum pan. Pasta use fresh pasta from refrigerater case and use pasta with fiber.. Do not buy salty crackers or triskets ect...do not buy salted nuts buy unsalted...See its not so HARD!!!

What is more remarkable is that Wal-mart sells the adulterated fruit juices with added high fructose corn syrup next to the 100% juices with no added HFCS and for the same price..Since the consumer is not aware that a. when it says blueberry juice 100% juice, it may contain up to 75% non blueberry juice ingredients such as apple or pear juice AND B. When it DOES NOT say 100% juice a significant portion of the sugary fruit juice can contain high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient that is not even a "juice".. It gets more interesting when you look at the wording for "artificial" versus "natural" ingredients.

Why does Iowa have to hold the first primaries? Logically, Ohio should be the state that holds the first primaries, being so much more important politically than Iowa.

Ohio does have farmers, but it has a lot of urban people too. It is the perfect state to prevent any one group's special interests from being too dominant.

There should be a NATIONAL ballot vote on farm subsidies. Yes, a NATIONAL vote. I bet that would pass 80% to 20%. Let the farmers whine all they want after that - they will simply become the butt of comedian jokes.

That being said, yes, the food industry has made it far too easy to eat terrible foods. They are just too accessible. BUT, obesity is still an issue of personal responsibility. The food industry is making it harder, but it still is up to the individual to fight off the temptations.

If voters won't elect politicians who cut corn subsidies or tax junk food, and if Madison Avenue can't shame the obese to change their habits, you could always start a realty TV show where obnoxious fat people are kidnapped and traded for skinny foreigners dying to vote in free elections. Follow the hijinks of low-information voters struggle to avoid land minds and find potable water in a third-world hell hole while emaciated refugees stare slack-jawed at Costco's produce aisles and ballot measure mailers. Call it "Citizen Swap."

Ocean Spray Cranberry juice has switched
from HFCS to cane or beet sugar.

Cover the pie hole for 10 days.

Isn't too much easy eat less sugar or junk food? I think we have a lot of healthier options, but people don't care if they're killing themselves

HFCS is definitely dangerous, but is not the only chemical in our food supply. There shouldn't even be chemicals in our food supply, but the industry has gotten away with excuses for years. Our food supply is ladden with far too many chemicals and is causing people to become overweight. Introducing foreign substances into the body and it has no idea what to do with them.

Something that I never see brought up in any articles on the epidemic of obesity is the fact that there are very few jobs out there in this field. After graduating with a BS in Nutrition & Food Science I was eager to find programs, or create programs, that went into schools and not only taught children about healthier eating habits, but that would invite parents to come in and learn as well. Needless to say I am now in the Financial Industry because of the low paying, scarcity of jobs within this needed industry. The few programs that do exist are incredibly low paying. These programs should exist in every school along with math and reading in order for everyone to have the opportunity to make an educated choice on their diet.

Having just read "The end of Food" by Paul Roberts; I'm inclined to agreed that HFC is partially responsible for obseity.
It is no coincidence that as more HFC was consumed by Americans, they became obese.

One sulution is to CONTINUE TO GET THE INFO OUT to people. Thank you!

I recently read (or saw on the news) that the human body doesn't 'recognize' HFCS the way it does other sugars, and not 'knowing' what to do w/it, sends it directly into storage in ourfat cells, doomed to imprisonment there for-practically-EVER. Who knows more about this? My sister has soft, oyster-shaped subcutaneous growths all over her body that she refers to as 'corn bumps". Hmmmm.

Cathy Arnst, what is the source of the information in your article? Would love to see footnotes and references, or did I miss them? Have YOU (or anyone else out there) ever heard of 'corn bumps'?

The Blood Type diet books speak to evolving agrarian practices not meeting the dietary & nutritional needs of, nor are appropriate for all races or geo-cultures. Brown, yellow, black or pink people; from the North, South, Africa, Europe, Asia, etc: look at what indiginous people all over the world are eating.

Inland Northern Russians would not typically eat taro root, tropical fruits and fish--they are not available foods; nor would Hawaiian islanders normally subsist on cabbages, onions, beets and yoghurt. For those not familiar with D'Adamo's books, think of this; when exploreers introduced wheat to Canadian native peoples whose natural diet donsisted of reindeer meat, fish, blubber, and a very few other wild foods such as berries and seeds, the people became fat, ill, and groups of them began to die off. (See Farley Mowatt's PEOPLE OF THE DEER).

We do well to examine our own cultures, our own geographical areas and traditional/native foods, and what ancestors where we came from lived on. E.g. There's a big difference between the whole, ground corn consumed by some cultures,and the highly refined, overly-sweet (and addicting) HFCS that is available to many in the world today. FOOD FOR THOUGHT, eh?

If you check the stats, the most obese people are also from the area's in the United States, that use the most prescriptions. I personally believe that it is medication that is causing the obese people in our country. whiteagle38

When I quit smoking, I certainly expected to gain some weight but figured it was still a much healthier trade-off. Plus, I'd get more exercise and feel better and then I'd be a proud and fit non-smoker. Yeah, quitting tobacco is a whole 'nother subject and possibly a can of worms, but let me finish...

As I soothed my grieving soul with Ben & Jerry's, soda pop, nachos and candy bars, I gathered--and saved--poundage that I never could have imagined. Not in a lifetime could I have forseen the slow but certain slide down the slippery slope of 'replacement addiction'.

Long story short: now my omentum is gigantaur, I look and feel like a hot air balloon, my knees are killing me and I have that 'apple shape' that portends looming heart disease and worse.

I am not addicted to cane sugar. I don't crave honey or maple syrup. But show me ANYTHING with HFCS in it and my eyes grow wide with desire, my taste buds begin to sing, and uncontrollable 'need' is bouncing off every cell wall.

I don't look for sympathy nor will I appreciate criticism for the state I'm in: I, more than anyone, know how desperately I need to get a grip and get fit no matter what. My self esteem is shot and I look like heck. To look in the mirror is to see a flabby, ashamed and seriously challenged CORN FREAK, and does that ever feel WEIRD! Wish me luck as I pull myself up out of this gooey, sickening-sweet, crack-ish corn hole.

Ray Juneau: Correlation does not prove causation.

You haven't mentioned what scale was used to measure obesity. I am assuming it was BMI (Body Mass index). I think it is misleading in these times since most athletes would register as obese.

How much does the HFCS in a can of coke cost? Maybe 10 cents at most.

How much extra would it cost to sweeten coke with sugar? Maybe 5 cents at most.

How much extra would it cost to sweeten coke with sugar if the US did not restrict sugar imports? Probably zero.

Increasing the price of a can of coke by 5 cents would have almost no effect on consumption of coke. Changing the sweetener in processed food would have zero effect on obesity.

What causes us to be fat is that we like food - the more the better. Food producers know that we can't resist a bigger portion so they offer them to us at attractive prices.

I don't know how to solve this problem - a calorie tax?

Paradoxically, our "fat free" diets may actually be what is making us fat. A thousand calories of carbohydrate induces a big insulin response and may actually lead to more adipose accumulation than consuming the same thousand calories as protein and lipid. Of course the best solution is to cut the calories altogether.

If you say we are all eating 200 extra calories a day x 300 million people that is 2e13 excess calories consumed per year and it is resulting in 61 billion dollars of excess health care cost. So simple arithmetic says we should be charging 0.4 cents per calorie in taxes. So a 20 once supersize soft drink with 200 calories should be taxed about 80 cents to pay for its health care consequences.

Price hikes have controlled tobacco consumption.

I am 50lbs overweight, at least after reading this article I know that it is not all my fault! The government should really start doing something

The ONLY thing that causes people to be overweight is if they consume more calories than their body needs. It's that simple. You can't make something (fat) out of nothing, and any other model of "why" people gain weight violates the laws of physics.

Genetics does contribute to overall body build. Gemetics may also influence things such as appetite. However, if you consume more than you need, you will eventually be overweight. I do care of HFCS is cheap / subsidized - but that's a different issue even though it does make certain foods cheaper.

Griping that some people can eat more and not gain is moronic. That's like me, a female, griping that I can't eat as much as a male lumberjack or professional athlete who is larger than I am, male, has more muscle mass, and burns more calories in physical energy every day. This is the same concept as gas consumption - larger cars that are driven more use more gas than smaller cars that are driven less. Deal with it.

In the end, you have to eat fewer calories than you expend to lose weight. This is a simple formula, even though it may not be simple or easy to implement. No person will fail to lose weight if he eats fewer calories than he expends.

Take action to suuport local farmers by purchasing produce grown at your local farmer's market or produce stand. The benefits are 3-fold: 1) U.S. pesticides are regulated vs. the unregulated import produce so it's healthier; 2) You're minimizing your global footprint by cutting down on transportation costs and 3) You're putting money back into your community - not big business food industries.
If you want juice, invest in a juicer and buy some fruit....from a local farmer.

High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices all contain the same simple sugars.

New research continues to confirm that high fructose corn syrup is no different from other sweeteners. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

Consumption of high fructose corn syrup has been dropping in recent years, yet the rates of obesity and diabetes in the United States continue to rise. Moreover, many other parts of the world have rising rates of obesity and diabetes, despite having little or no high fructose corn syrup in their foods and beverages.

Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.HFCSfacts.com and www.SweetSurprise.com.

Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association

High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices all contain the same simple sugars.

New research continues to confirm that high fructose corn syrup is no different from other sweeteners. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

Consumption of high fructose corn syrup has been dropping in recent years, yet the rates of obesity and diabetes in the United States continue to rise. Moreover, many other parts of the world have rising rates of obesity and diabetes, despite having little or no high fructose corn syrup in their foods and beverages.

Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.HFCSfacts.com and www.SweetSurprise.com.

Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association

What is this?!? Cathy Arnst perpetuates a popular fiction in the search for a solution to obesity – that HFCS is somehow uniquely responsible for obesity. But her HFCS-obesity calculus simply doesn’t add up. Consider these mathematical impossibilities:
-Obesity is up since last year in 37 states, yet HFCS per capita consumption has been in decline since 1999 (http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February08/Findings/HighFructose.htm).
-We have the same activity level we had in 1980 and per capita calorie consumption is up 24% since 1980, yet per capita consumption of sugars and caloric sweeteners is up just 19% (while fat consumption is up 29% over the same interval).

So if it’s not HFCS specifically or added sweeteners in general that are causing obesity, what is? The solution is simple and mathematically elegant – we’re eating more of everything today than in 1980, but haven’t increased our activity level to compensate for the added calories. More calories + uncompensated activity = obesity.

Many of the early critics of HFCS – George Bray, Barry Popkin, Peter Havel and John Bantle, as well as CSPI’s Michael Jacobsen – have publicly agreed that HFCS and sugar are so metabolically similar that it doesn’t really matter which one you use; the AMA came to the same conclusion last summer. And the same can most likely be said for honey, fruit juice concentrates and agave nectar.

Can we please stop kicking this tired old dog and move on to more realistic obesity solutions?

Can we please stop kicking this tired old dog and move on to more realistic obesity solutions?

Yes... Eat less.. move around more.

I am sorry, I don't take the word of the people who create the poison as "fact". Having the President of the Corn Refiner's Association tell me HFCS is "safe" is like having the president of a cigarette manufacturer tell me their product is "safe". I prefer to look at the independent studies that show that this poison is metabolized in the liver causing fatty deposits. I make a conscious effort to avoid products that have HFCS in it. When I find that I have accidentally purchased something that last week did not have it but ths week the new label indicates that HFCS is in it (as happened with a so-called "all natural" loaf of bread last week) I take it back to the store and tell them the reason for return is that I do not buy products with HFCS. Stop using the products they'll find another use for the corn. And Corn Refiners take note -- class action law suits from the millions of people in each of the states that have been overfatted by your pig feed are the next step.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eSCgrg5cekYC&pg=PA148&dq=price+fixing+cargil#PPA117,M1

It's all about money, not your well being.

Special thanks to Phyzer, Bayer and Cargil for making this country fat.