Corn-Fed America 

Video  

 

Obesity in America -- especially childhood obesity -- is front and center in today’s culture. Most 

of us have absorbed the facts: The growing link between obesity and disease – including the 

emergence of Type 2 diabetes in children... The financial costs to our society... And the very real 

specter of disability and decreasing lifespans for our youngest citizens.1,2 

 

The obesity epidemic has caused many to ask “What should I eat?”  But to really understand 

this problem, we should be asking a different question: “What’s in my food?” The surprising answer is 

that when it comes to the foods Americans typically eat, most roads lead back to one thing: Corn. 

This grain is in nearly all of the processed foods we eat today and it may be contributing more than 

we realize to our problem with obesity. How? High calories and overproduction. With advances in 

technology, improvements in processing, and changes to farm policy over the last few decades, corn 

has become the most economical food buy per calorie. You can buy 1,200 calories of potato chips for 

only a dollar, but the same dollar buys only 250 calories of carrots.3  

 

Corn is cheap, it’s everywhere, and we’re eating it.  

 

To understand this better, let’s take a closer look at the origins of corn and discuss how, 

exactly, it secured its stable and unhealthy position in our daily diets. 

 

The use of corn as a cultivated crop can be traced back 9,000 years to a giant tropical grass, 

Zea mays, found in Central America.4   

 

Corn has thrived since then as a crop because it absorbs carbon atoms from the atmosphere 

much more efficiently than other plant competitors. This is important because these carbon molecules 

represent energy, which is measured in calories. Corn also has the unique ability to preserve the 

identity of the carbon atoms it absorbs – even as the corn is transformed into things like hamburgers 

and Twinkies.3  

 

While many Americans still see wheat as their grain of choice, the corn plant clearly dominates 

our landscape. Today 125,000 square miles of American soil are devoted to corn production, and a 

single acre of land can accommodate 30,000 plants yielding 180 bushels of corn. Back in 1920, we 

only yielded 20 bushels per acre.3,5 

 

This increase in productivity occurred with several successive steps. The first was the 

development in 1930 of a hybrid seed that created sturdier stalks. This allowed the plants to stand 

crowded side by side and resist blowing over.3  

 

A second advance came in 1947. After World War II, munitions plants found themselves with a 

surplus of ammonium nitrate -- the key ingredient in making explosives, but no longer needed since 

 

the war had ended. Scientists found a way to convert ammonium nitrate into a chemical fertilizer that 

boosted soil nitrogen levels and made it possible to plant more corn year after year without soil 

exhaustion.3,5 

And a third advance came with the change in federal farm policy in the 1970s. Before this, farm 

policy supported corn prices through loans, government purchases and land rest. Then in 1973, a 

new policy was built around direct payments to farmers. This encouraged farmers to grow and sell 

their corn at any price. And grow it, they did.3,5  

 

Along the way, corn became not just a food but a tradable commodity. Commodity corn was 

first traded on the Chicago commodity markets in 1856. The term “number 2 corn” came into 

existence that year to denote corn with a moisture level under 14% and insect damage of less than 

5%. Railroads grew, along with grain elevators, and, before long, a yellow river of golden kernels was 

flowing nationwide.3,6 

 

Two areas of activity, directly tied to corn and our obesity problem, are worth a closer look -- the 

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation and the wet mill. 

 

 First, the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, otherwise known as the “factory farm.” In 

one farm, 37,000 cows are raised for slaughter at one time and consume 1 million pounds of feed a 

day, 75% of which is number 2 corn. In fact, 60% of all number 2 corn ends up at the factory farm. 

What’s remarkable about this is that cows naturally and historically feed on grass, not corn. But as 

corn became cheaper, cows were confined in pens side by side and force fed, and the results were 

dramatic. In 1930 it took 4 to 5 years to bring a cow to 1200 pounds for slaughter. Today it takes just 

16 months. The unnatural diet has had health implications for the cows, requiring the addition of 

antibiotics and other medicines to the feed, but the bottom line is that 8 pounds of mostly number 2 

corn delivers 1 pound of marbleized meat a day. The message? Our meat is made possible by corn. 

And the carbon and energy we derive from most beef, poultry and pork today comes directly from 

corn.3  

 

The second area of activity worth a look is the wet mill. Most of the corn that isn’t fed to animals 

passes through one of these on its way to reaching its ultimate food fate. The wet mill turns corn into 

the substances used by companies that make our processed foods. Every part of a corn kernel is 

considered valuable. The yellow skin becomes vitamins and nutritional supplements. The germ, that 

dark yellow spot at the base, is crushed for corn oils. And the endosperm, the body of the kernel, is 

full of carbohydrates that are broken down and rearranged into organic compounds like acids, sugars, 

starches, and alcohols.3 

 

The most profitable product refined from corn was established between the 1960s and 70s. In 

the late 60s, a Japanese chemist discovered the enzyme glucose isomerase. Ten years later, this 

discovery was used to develop the perfect low-cost sweetness substitute, high-fructose corn syrup 

(HFCS).3  

 

The rest is history. Over the following three decades, HFCS and corn byproducts found their 

way into nearly every processed food ... and drink. Coca Cola replaced sugar with HFCS in 1980 to 

save a few pennies and Pepsi followed suit in 1984. At lower cost, drinks and meals then went super- 

sized, because marketers quickly discovered that Americans would consume 30% larger portions and 

pay a few more cents for “value meals.”3,7  

 

 

 

On average, we each consume 200 calories more per day than we did 30 years ago – mostly in 

the form of hidden corn calories.  We consistently eat corn and wash it down with more corn. And if 

you’re poor, it’s even worse. As I mentioned with the potato chip/carrots example, foods made with 

corn, aided by government subsidies, are often the cheapest and contain the most calories. By 

subsidizing corn, we have pointed those at the greatest risk to foods that are certain to make them 

sick.8 

 

What to do? First, don’t get the wrong impression about corn – in its natural state, it can be a sound, 

healthy element of anyone’s diet. It’s not bad in and of itself, but what man does with corn is a 

different story. Here are a few simple things you can do to avoid this harmful side of corn: 

 

1. Spend more time shopping the periphery of supermarkets where the fruits and vegetables are. 

Products made with HFCS and other corn byproducts tend to be in the middle aisles. 

2. Push water and milk with your kids, not soda.  

3. Keep your portions of meat small, lean and open grazed, if possible.   

 

Corn-fed may sound good, but as you begin to make the link between that and our obesity problem, 

you kind of lose your appetite. 

 

For Health Politics, I’m Mike Magee. 

 

 

 

 

References 

 

1. Health Politics. “Overweight Kids in America.” October 18, 2006. Available at: 

http://www.healthpolitics.org/archives.asp?previous=childhood_obesity. 

2. Health Politics. “Will I Be More Disabled Than My Parents?” July 23, 2006. Available at: 

http://www.healthpolitics.org/archives.asp?previous=obesity_early_disability. 

3. Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006. 

4. Fussell, Betty. The Story of Corn. New York: Knopf, 1992. 

5. Warman, Arturo. Corn & Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. 

Translated by Nancy L. Westrate. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 2003. 

6. Runge, C Ford. King corn: The history, trade, and environmental consequences of corn 

(maize) production in the United States. Washington, DC: World Wildlife Fund, 2002. 

7. 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;79:537-543. 

8. Drewnowski A, Specter SE. Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs. 

2004;79:6-16.