Reply #20: Let's narrow this a bit [View All]

[GrpCaptMandrake]

Corn is, indeed, America's problem, and a growing problem in the rest of the world. That problem, however, isn't a result of corn qua corn. It is a function of high fructose corn syrup, a weirdly frankensteinian distillate of something called Number 2 FIeld Grade Corn.

The processes used to fracture out the HFCS are so proprietary as to require the plants and processes to be guarded like nuclear installations.

In every substance that was once sweetened with cane sugar, one finds almost uniformly now the ubiquitous HFCS. Nutritionists, dietary scientists and the medical community are amassing a wealth of data that suggests HFCS is largely responsible for the alarming rise in diabetes in the U.S.

Conversely, tradition maize cultures aren't obese. They are, however, threatened by the increasingly vast plantings of Number 2 Field Grade, Roundup-Ready FrankenCorn.

A good primer on No. 2 FGC and HFCS is to be found in Michael Pollan's brilliant book "The Onmivore's Dilemma." It's well worth the read.