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Lately, I have found myself to be very busy, which has made for a disruption in my eating schedule. As a result, granola bars and Gatorade have become a common theme in my life. These items do provide some good nutritional value as a last resort, but I have been thinking: how different are these items from a typical meal when you dissect the foundation of the product? People want to be healthy and it is exceedingly apparent by how food is marketed, yet America is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world. These facts didn't line up to me. How can Gatorade and soda be made up of almost the same ingredients as a burger or salad from a fast-food restaurant? The answer lies in the production of corn.

Corn is the largest crop grown in America by far. According to a Wells Fargo market update, national corn yield has doubled since the 1960s. Aside from the recent push for corn-based ethanol production, most of the corn produced goes to animal feed. That means that most of the meat in which we eat is composed of corn. Unfortunately, corn is nearly 85 percent simple carbohydrate and the rest is sodium. That means that corn is not a sufficient source for nutritional value. Not only do we feed this to the animals in which we eat, we consume this product everyday in almost everything we eat. Almost 50 percent of our daily calories are from corn. Wells Fargo also states that beef, dairy, pork, and chicken consumption have increased over the past ten years. This coupled with steady increases of national cash corn prices means that corn production will likely remain a large portion of our diets.

As corn production rises, we as consumers must be responsible. A quote from Michael Pollan sums up this argument: "If you are what you eat, and especially if you eat industrial food, as 99 percent of Americans do, what you are is 'corn'." Overproduction sooner or later leads to overconsumption, because we’re good at figuring out how to turn surpluses into inexpensive, portable new products. Our cheap, value-added, portable corn commodity is corn sweetener, specifically high-fructose corn syrup. But we also dispose of overproduction in corn-fed beef, pork, and chicken. And now we're even teaching salmon to eat corn, because there's so much of it to get rid of. High-fructose corn syrup is what I inevitably found as the ingredient in my Gatorade. It is interesting to me that the production of one product can drive the force behind so many staples of American diet. 

It is not our fault that corn is such a large part of our lives. It makes sense that we use corn in everything because it can be produced very inexpensively, and we can break it down into simple sugars to incorporate into almost everything. As I mentioned earlier, American marketing can be partially to blame for this. Taking the idea of a surplus in corn production, we can see why companies simply target more super-sized options for soda and burgers. They are still gaining profit from the cheap corn and consumers feel treated because they can get more for a lower price.

Researching these facts on corn production has made me realize just how much of our diets are corn-based. From Gatorade to macaroni and cheese, corn plays a major role in how we get our calories. It is amazing that these kinds of foods came from corn. I can't think of anything like this ever happening in history. Corn production accounts for two New York states worth of acreage, and that is just in the United States. I don't think that these findings will have any affect on my relationship with corn because, as a college student, you are limited in the variety of food you can find as a result of the financial aspect and limitations from Sodexo. As much as I would love to lower my consumption of corn-based foods, it is not an option at this point. I still like the idea of using corn how it is today, however, I think there are better options. It makes sense to use it because it is so cheap and available in the United States. The only concern linked to the use of corn is the rising obesity rates in America as well as the lack of nutritional value in corn. Added useless calories to American diet is hardly what we need to see when we are trying to lower obesity rates and become healthier as a society. Gatorade will still be apart of my diet but less high fructose corn syrup is better for society.


"Corn Market Update." Wells Fargo. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2013. <https://www.wellsfargo.com/downloads/pdf/com/industry/Corn_Industry.pdf>.


Pollan, Michael. "We Are What We Eat - Michael Pollan | Center for Ecoliteracy."Education for Sustainable Living | Center for Ecoliteracy. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2013. <http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/we-are-what-we-eat>