Blog Post #1 – King Corn

How is it that our generation will be the first one that will not outlive their parents’ generation? Upon hearing this shocking and discerning news, Ian and Curtis, recent college graduates who should feel free and see their whole lives ahead of themselves, started to investigate this disturbing question of earlier death of their generation by implementing various problem-solving and critical learning methods. Ian and Curtis started to jot down their diet and record what they ate. Curtis and Ian had Steve Macko, a Isotope Chemistry Professor at the University of Virginia, to analyze their pieces of hair because it is to be a “tape-recorder” of what humans eat. The analysis concluded that the carbon in most human body is made up from corn that humans knowingly or unknowingly consume every day. According to Professor Macko, corn is injected in almost every “food” that you find in the aisles of local supermarket. They have been chemically altered to be injected into food. Since corn is in shape and forms that you would not expect, it is not easy to distinguish or to know if you are eating them or not. Corn can be processed to high fructose corn syrup, starch, main diet for almost every domestic animal that humans consume. Corn substituted many other ingredients like sugar, flour, grass (for cows and animals), et cetera because corn is easy to grow, efficient and most importantly inexpensive. Because corn is inexpensive, it has been industrialized and utilized into our food system easily. Also they are stored and there are more than plenty of corns to go around every year. Curtis and Ian moved to Greene, Iowa to raise corns as farmers and track down their own corns into the grotesque food system that we currently have. As Curtis and Ian raised their own corns in an acre, they found out and showed in their documentary many disturbing facts. Farmers would not eat what they have grown. It seriously raises a troubling question: why would farmers not eat their own crops and so what is gravely wrong with their crops? By digging deeper, Curtis and Ian came upon the fact that corns are grown by heavy pesticides and they are genetically engineered so that they can be grown in such harsh conditions easily and efficiently. After raising these corns, Curtis and Ian tasted corns and the corns were tasted horribly unpleasant when consumed raw unlike other corns raised in other countries like Mexico and countries in South America unless they are processed in anyway. As Curtis and Ian followed their pile of corns, they found out that corns are turned into high fructose syrup that replaced sugar in many foods and drinks. Since corns are cheaper than sugar cane, it is used to sweeten most of the foods and drinks. Our generation is drinking more calories than ever before, all thanks to corn. When corn is processed into high fructose corn syrup, it has no nutritional value and it is purposely for metabolism and contains only calories. So Ian, Curtis and his friend made their own high fructose corn syrup after their failure to visit the factory that makes them. Indeed, HFCS tasted too sweet to be consumed alone. Curtis and Ian found out that their corn will end up in the “elevator” in Greene, Iowa. The elevator is a place for storing excess surplus of corns. All theses corns were grown due to an act passed in 1970s for agriculture. We are the first generation that saw abundance that brought too much and bad health. All the excess amount of corns will go to our bodies and will probably store excess fat since cannot burn all those estimated calories. By growing and tracking their own corn, Ian and Curtis came down to a conclusion. The reason for the earlier death of our generation is this commonly grown crop called corn and its effect on the food system.