Not-So-Sweet Cupboard of Corn
Laurine Brown PhD

Where Does All the Corn Go?
It's harvest time. Acres of Midwest cornfields are being sheared by tractors and shaken of their golden kernels. I remember thinking as a kid visiting our Iowa farmer relatives “Where does all this corn go?” Corn on the cob didn't take up that much space in the grocery store. I shrugged it off. Then, one day as a college student new to Illinois I learned it really wasn't sweet corn. I picked (yes, stole) corn from a field, and tried to cook it in the dorm with my partner-in-crime roommates, only to find it was not even edible. Ugh, field corn. Regardless, “Where does all this corn go?”
Renowned author Michael Pollan has spent time tracking corn kernels and offers insights. Since the 1980's our American plate has become “cornified” with mostly invisible corn that's been processed or passed through animals before reaching us. When you eat burgers, pork chops, chicken nuggets, yogurt, or drink milk you're eating corn, since most animals we eat or siphon milk from are cornfed today. When nibbling Cheerios, Wheat Thins, pretzels, or drinking Coke or Gatorade, you're eating corn (corn starch, corn oil, high-fructose corn syrup). One wonders if there's anything in the cupboard that isn't cornified.
Scientists can easily detect field corn “fingerprints” in Americans' bodies through carbon testing. A simple snip of hair or flesh reveals our heavy body burden of carbon-13, traced to eating corn (or things that eat corn). It's often said “you are what you eat”. We may think we're “wheat people” but our bodies say we're mostly “cornies.” Even more than Mexicans, whose staple is corn (e.g., corn tortillas).

Why Be Concerned About Our Corny Appetite?
Growing and eating so much corn takes a toll on our health and the environment. Take sugar. Nobody thinks of sugar when they see cornfields. Until the 1970s most sugar we ate was sucrose from sugar cane or beets. When federal farm subsidies helped make corn cheaper, corn sweeteners gained popularity, like corn syrup and especially high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS is made in a complicated process, which converts cornstarch to a clear syrup high in fructose. With cheap corn sweeteners, soft drinks were super-sized and thousands of new sweetened snacks hit the market. Between 1970 and 1990, HFCS consumption increased over 1000%! USDA suggests we limit to 10-12 teaspoons of added sugar daily, but in 2005 we ate (mostly drank) 30 teaspoons daily with 40% from HFCS.
While the problem is complex, it's an interesting coincidence that the switch to corn sweeteners mirrors the rise in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The 100-300 extra-sweetened calories that have snuck in don't help our waistlines, but research suggests HFCS metabolism is also problematic. While glucose can be processed in many body cells, fructose heads straight to the liver. Fructose in HFCS is absorbed quickly, flooding the liver with a “Katrina effect”, raising blood triglycerides, worsening blood sugar control, and eventually causing a fatty liver. Fructose surges (especially sweet drinks) can cause digestive problems too, like irritable bowel syndrome. Additionally, fructose fails to stimulate appetite and weight-regulating hormones insulin and leptin, which may lead to overeating and weight gain. (Note: fruit also contains fructose, but the fiber slows its metabolism.)
Our appetite for meat drives corn production. Over half the annual 10 billion bushels are fed to animals we eat (cows, chickens, pigs), regardless of whether it is good for them. Corn is cheap and fattening. With beef cattle, who's natural food source is grass, cornfeeding can cause gassy cows who need puncturing, damaged livers or heartburn from acid reflux requiring antibiotics, and even food safety threats, like E coli 0157 linked to acidification of the cow's stomach. Cornfeeding also makes beef lower in “good fats” like omega 3's and higher in saturated fat, a risk for heart disease.
Finally, environmental impacts of growing 80 million acres of corn to feed our appetite for meat and sweets (and recently cars with ethanol) are considerable. Corn monocropping guzzles oil (for tractors, transport, chemicals), squeezes out native species, and pollutes drinking water and our bodies with run off from fertilizers and pesticides. All this matters for our health.

Diversifying Your Not-So-Sweet Corny Cupboard
o Drink water and less soda or sweetened drinks to avoid “mainlining” sugars like fructose. Don't let sweetened drinks replace milk, especially for children who need bone building nutrients during growth. If you crave fizz, drink carbonated waters like Europeans. Choose fresh fruit over fruit-flavored drinks or even fruit juice which is still high in sugar.
o Avoid foods that contain “added sugar”, including HFCS. Read labels. Ingredients are listed in order of most weight (first) to least (last). Other not-so-sweet sugars include: sucrose, brown sugar, raw sugar, glucose (dextrose), fructose, maltose, lactose, honey, syrup, corn sweetener, molasses, and fruit juice concentrate. Choose fruit canned in its own juices instead of heavy syrup.
o Better yet, avoid label reading by eating “real food” in its “original packaging.” Pollan says “real food” is what your great grandmother would recognize, often packaged in skins which are full of digestion-regulating fiber. It looks like how it came from earth and doesn't need a label. Like spinach, lentils, apples, almonds. Can you pick gummy bears or cola off trees? Got it? Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, or better yet, go to farmers markets where you won't find HFCS amidst the bounty of real foods.
o Eat more plant foods, less meat - vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds. Besides being packed with good-for-you-nutrients, for every meatless meal you help lighten demand for corn. Try new species to add diversity and healthful nutrients. If you eat beef, look for grass fed. For chickens or eggs, choose organic, free range (preferably local).
Lastly, simply eat less. Okinawans, the longest-living people on earth, practice “Hara Hachi Bu” (eat till 80% full). Take a deep breath. Give thanks for the bounty in your cupboard. And make each bite matter. Because it does.

References:
o Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;80(4):1090. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15051594>
o Brown L. Where's the Beef… From? Part 1: Industrial Beef-A Forgotten Wholeness. HealthWise Illinois Wesleyan University, October 2002.
o Forristal LJ. The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup. Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2001. <http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html>.
o Gaudette K. Is high-fructose corn syrup making us fat? It's a sticky subject. Seattle Times. Feb 7, 2007. <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2003559833_syrup07.html>
o King Corn. Mosaic Films Inc. 2006. <http://kingcorn.net>
o Pollan M. Farmer in Chief. The New York Times Magazine. October 12, 2008.
o Pollan M. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: The Penguin Press. 2008.
o Pollan M. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006.
o Pollan M. Unhappy Meals. The New York Times Magazine. January 28, 2007. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html>
o Pollan, M. When a Crop Becomes King. The New York Times Magazine. July 19, 2002. <http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=41>
o Sanda, B. The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, Weston A. Price Foundation. Winter 2003, <http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html>
o Rao S, Schwarz JM, Dietary Fructose in Obesity and Hepatic Disease: Culprit or Scapegoat?, Workshop presented at Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, Chicago, IL, Oct 28, 2008.
o The Facts About High Fructose Corn Syrup. The Corn Refiners Association, 2008. < http://hfcsfacts.com/ >
o Zeratsky, K. High-fructose corn syrup: What are the concerns? Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, October 24, 2008, <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/ANh01588>