[gardener]

Michael Pollan is one of my favorite contemporary non-fiction writers. He was editor of Harper’s magazine, then staff writer for the NY Times, and now a professor at Berkeley. His latest book, The Botany of Desire, attracted a lot of well-deserved attention. He and I have never met in person, but we exchange e-mails from time to time, as we have some common interests.

Last year Pollan wrote an op-ed piece in the NY Times, “When Corn is King,” that was a real eye-opener about politics, agriculture, and special economic interests as well as nutrition. As its title suggests, it involves America’s principal farm crop, corn. It also alerted me to the words “high fructose corn syrup,” and started me reading food labels very closely.

I’ll quote a bit from Pollan’s article here and paraphrase the jist of it.

“Corn,”writes Pollan, “is the world’s most widely planted cereal crop.” But it has political dimensions that may be largely unexpected by those of us who like Corn Chex for breakfast. Pollan then goes on to refer to the $190 billion farm bill President Bush signed in June, 2002. “Under the 10-year program, taxpayers will pay farmers $4 billion a year to grow ever more corn, this despite the fact that we struggle to get rid of the surplus the plant already produces. The average bushel of corn (56 pounds) sells for about $2 today; it costs farmers more than $3 to grow it. “

This may sound like a great bonus for farmers, but its true benefits accrue to “the Archer Daniels Midlands, Tysons and Coca-Colas of the world. “ Most of the consumption of corn in the US is “invisible, having been heavily processed or passed through food animals before it reaches us. Most of the animals we eat (chickens, pigs and cows) today subsist on a diet of corn, regardless of whether it is good for them. In the case of beef cattle, which evolved to eat grass, a corn diet wreaks havoc on their digestive system, making it necessary to feed them antibiotics to stave off illness and infection. Even farm-raised salmon are being bred to tolerate corn — not a food their evolution has prepared them for. Why feed fish corn? Because it's the cheapest thing you can feed any animal, thanks to federal subsidies.”

But the greatest invisible use of corn has been the development of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has all but pushed sugar aside. Since the 1980's, most soft drink manufacturers have switched from sugar to corn sweeteners, as have most snack makers. Nearly 10 percent of the calories Americans consume now come from corn sweeteners; the figure is 20 percent for many children.”

So what? “It's probably no coincidence that the wholesale switch to corn sweeteners in the 1980's marks the beginning of the epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in this country. Sweetness became so cheap that soft drink makers, rather than lower their prices, super-sized their serving portions and marketing budgets. Thousands of new sweetened snack foods hit the market, and the amount of fructose in our diets soared. “ Pollan goes on to analyze other malicious effects of corn. He is not, of course, the first person to argue that corn is a culprit. A number of people are zeroing in on that HFCS. Anyone who reads labels will find that the stuff is in all kinds of surprising things, like some kinds of mustard and peanut butter, even bacon. A diet based on corn is a recipe for diseases, like pellagra. Of all grains it’s the most seriously deficient. Its protein level is low, and it’s badly lacking in some amino acids, like lysine. It’s also low in B vitamins.

The effects of HFCS on overall health have not been adequately studied scientifically, although the agribusiness lobby hypes the stuff. Recently, Andrew Weill wrote the following. “The body doesn't handle large amounts of fructose well. You can maintain life with intravenous glucose, but not with intravenous fructose; severe derangement of liver function results. There's also evidence that a high intake of fructose elevates levels of circulating fats, (serum triglycerides), increasing the risk of heart disease. I never use fructose in my home. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a recent invention of the food industry, made by an enzyme-mediated process. Old-fashioned corn syrup is less sweet and contains mostly glucose.” HFCS contains 14 percent fructose. Never before in history have so many people been consuming so much fructose, and I am concerned about its possible disruptive effects on metabolism. I'd advise you not to buy products made with HFCS.”

That’s what Weill has to say. If you want more info, type in “High Fructose Corn Syrup” into Google. . Also type in “fructose danger.” And start reading those labels on processed food. HFCS is extremely common. Most of us consume over 50 pounds of it per year.