Corn Syrup
The New York Times says high-fructose corn syrup isn't actually any worse for you than standard sugar. Sadly, for a very long article on the subject it doesn't say anything about the relevant trade policies. Manufacturers are "able to buy the sweetener at prices 20 percent to 70 percent less than those of sugar" but why is it so cheap? Well, in large part it's because we've made it so hard to import sugar from Latin America where there's lots of land well-suited to sugar cultivation. The current policy is bad for the environment in Florida, bad for development south of the border, and even costs jobs in America, but it's good for folks who grow corn and for producers of the insidious beet sugar.
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The insidious influence of Big Corn on our agricultural, trade, energy, and environmental policies cannot be overstated. Read anything by Michael Pollan. Something like 80% of the items in the average supermarket -- food and non-food alike -- contain some derivative of corn.
It's not exaggerating to say that the entire American food industry is devoted to finding new ways of processing corn into junk food. They long ago maxed our our ability to consume corn itself, and there are huge corn surpluses thanks to ridiculous subsidies, so they have to get it down our gullet somehow.
Also, corn-based ethanol? Total scam. Total sop to Big Corn, and huge distraction from the real solutions to our energy problems.
Corn is evil, and so is corn syrup.
July 2, 2006 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for reading this "sugar shack" piece so I didn't have to. Sugar politics have so angered me over the years that I no longer trust myself to read any related articles.
Thirty years ago we were paying subsidies of $110,000 a year for each Colorado sugar beet job. We've been importing "slaves" from Hispaniola for decades under special Ag Dept regs. Not to mention, as you did, destroying the Florida ecosystem on behalf of a few Cuban emigre families.
It's enough to make one's blood boil -- unless, like the NYT, you happen to be an insensate frog in a pot of water and have to wait until you're actually boiled.
July 3, 2006 7:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am a little bit older than Matt ;-( and I lived through the transition to trans fat and HFCS in our food supply. That transition coincided with a lot of cultural and economic changes that also affected how and what Americans eat, but whether or not there are any current studies out there I have a hard time believe that the introduction of large amounts of those two non-natural ingrediants into our food supply has NOT been a significant factor in the diabetes, obseity, and allergy rate increases we are seeing today.
As far as studies go, any such study would take 20 years, require control groups that would be very hard to find in North America today, and would have to be paid for by the food industry. So I am not holding my breath, but I am eating lots of raw vegetables and homemade organic bread.
sPh
July 3, 2006 7:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Corn is even more evil than that.
Corn pollen may also be responsible for the increased spread of malaria in Africa. Mosquitoes just love the stuff and they grow in synch with the flowering of the corn stalks (both in terms of season and geography). The connection is close enough that many tribes have folklore about the disease coming from eating corn stalks, etc.
July 4, 2006 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear mrs buffoon,
How sweet of you!
sPh
July 5, 2006 7:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, yes! Another insightful comment from the delightful and always entertaining sphealey.
sphealey's zingers ooze with such intelligence and wit, I'm ready to swear James Wolcott himself is our midst at the TPM Cafe.
July 5, 2006 8:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sugar tastes better - you really notice the difference in lemonade.
July 7, 2006 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink