Natural Corn?

As many of you know,I am very concerned about where our family’s food come from. We try to purchase local,seasonal,chemical free,and organic. But I place organic last because that’s my default mode. I like to know more about where my food is coming from than just the “organic”label. HERE (Why I’m Not Enthralled With “Organic”) is a great blog on why “organic”may not be enough. But at least when I purchase organic,I know it’s GMO free.

Currently,there is no requirement that manufacturers,producers,or growers label their products as genetically modified (GM) or not GM. In fact the USDA and FDA have recently adopted a position AGAINST labeling foods as GM not only in the US,but are trying to convince the UN (and those countries participating to adopt the same policy). They believe that “it will give the ‘false’impression that the GM labeled foods are different than the other foods.” My point exactly! They are different,just look at the DNA patents. And we (the consumers) should have a right to know what we are consuming. FRESH,a documentary on the food we are eating,has a website and petition you can sign to support GMO labeling. ( read Powerful Forces Seek to Prohibit Labeling Food GMO-free for more information). Please sign,it’s very important to many of us that we be able to identify the sources of the foods we feed our families. Many of you who read my blog regularly know that I do not support GMO from my previous posts Got GMO-free Milk. But for this blog and to provide an example,I would like to focus exclusively on corn and the problems resulting from subsidized GMO corn in the US.

Corn Still Natural?

First let’s go into a little background information on the corn industry in the U.S. According to Michael Pollan’s Omnivores Dilemma,Government price manipulation and subsidies started,not surprisingly,during the Great Depression.  During the winter of 1933,the price of corn had fallen to zero.  Countless farmers were losing their farms,and the government stepped in to rescue farmers from the disastrous effects of growing too much food.  One of the New Deal farm programs had the government establish a target price based on the cost of production,and whenever the market price dropped below that target,the farmer could either take out a loan (with the corn as collateral) to store the grain until the price recovered or keep the money and give the government the corn.  These New Deal farm programs more or less stayed in place until the early 70′s,when the inflation rate for groceries reached an all time high.  The Nixon government led the way to reengineer the American food system by exhorting farmers to vastly increase their output to drive down prices.  Plus,the government replaced the loan-based farm programs with direct-payments to farmers for the shortfall in the price of corn.  The new subsidies encouraged farmers to sell their corn at any prices,since the government would make up the difference.  And now that greater yields would mean more profits,this is where Monsanto enters the equation.  Monsanto’s genetically modified corn promised to reduce infestation loss,and this was music to the farmers ears.  And flash forward to the 21st century,where GMO has a 90% market share.

Corn Diet Anyone?

Because corn is so cheap to produce in the U.S. it has made it’s way into everything from hamburgers to fuel. Since the 1980s virtually all the sodas and most of the fruit drinks have been sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Read the ingredients on the label of any processed food and corn is what you will find.  Corn also goes by the following aliases: modified starch,glucose syrup,maltodextrin,ascorbic acid,lecithin,dextrose,lactic acid,lysine,maltose,MSG,and xanthum gum.  Corn is in frozen yogurt,canned fruit,ketchup,candies,soup,cake mixes,frozen waffles,syrups,mayo,mustard,hot dogs,salad dressing,and margarine.   According to Michael Pollan,who took some McDonald’s food and ran it through a mass spectrometer to calculate it’s corn content,he came up with these sobering percentages: Soda is made up of 100% corn,milk shake (78% corn),salad dressing (65%),chicken nuggets (56%), cheeseburger (52%),and french fries (23%).  How’s that for minimizing your carbs!

I think HFCS gets the most publicity now a days as there are different studies out about the health concerns from obesity to mercury levels. “Since the fructose in corn syrup does neither stimulate insulin secretion nor reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin,you will continue to feel hungry while the body converts the fructose into fat.”Thus,we keep eating more and more sweeteners to satisfy our sweet tooth,but keep getting more and more HFCS. The research I have done seems to conclude that fructose (HFCS) is harder for your liver and body to digest. When we ingest large amount of foods that are hard to digest our GI tract loses efficiency and the consequences are often weight gain,fatigue,head aches,etc. Even the FDA has recognized that HFCS is different than sugar and no longer allows it to be marketed as “natural.”

In addition,allergies or intolerance to corn has become more and more common. One reason is because we consume so much corn. As you may already know,allergies are developed and often get more complicated with each exposure. You can never eat common corn products (fresh corn,tortillas,etc.) in the US and develop a serious food allergy from all the derived substances in our food supply. Because we consume so much corn,it’s important to understand where that corn is coming from,how it was produced,and processed. For the sake of this blog,I am not going to go into the debate on whether or not it’s safe to eat GMO produce from a genetics perspective (read GMO corn linked to organ failure for more information).

But for now I am going to concentrate on the other problems with GMO corn,manly being the increase use,and therefore ingestion,of herbacides in the corn industry. Monsanto’s Round Up Ready (GMO) corn is made to be resistant to Round Up (also made by Monsanto),so that growers can use more Round Up on the crops to kill the ever resistant weeds. As more Round Up is used,the remaining ”fittest”weeds become more resistant (natural selection 101). The more resistant the weeds,the more Round Up used,and the cycle continues. Some of you may have read my previous blog on The Mother Earth News article on the toxicity of Round Up,but I will summarize it again below:

• The low levels (currently legal in foods) of glyphosate-based herbicides (used in round-up) can cause cell damage and cell death,including human reproductive cells.
• The solvents and surfactants that are added to the glyphosate are considered “inert” and therefore do not require stringent EPA testing or regulation,but act as an excelerant and allow for increased penetration through skin. It increases the toxicity of the glyphosate and it’s ability to kill cells.
• There has been an increase in use of glyphosate,especially in corn and soy crops,as resistant weeds have begun to pop up. “In response to petitions from Monsanto,the EPA has approved up to 20-foldincreases in the legal residue limits for food crops.” Therefore we are being exposed to higher and higher levels of residue.

So basically for me,GMO corn (or non-organic corn) is “round up corn.”You are ingesting more and more Round Up (and other toxins) because the crops are designed to resist them. In addition,since corn pollinates via wind,it is nearly impossible to keep neighboring crops GMO-free. So farmers who do not want GMO plants may end up with GMO hybrid offspring.

I know this is a lot to digest,so I will summarize my basic point:

1. We should have the right to know if our food is derived from GM seeds.
2. Government-subsidized corn has created an unsustainably large corn industry. This has lead to corn being promoted and processed in all forms of processed foods.
3. Government-subsidized corn has led to an excessive amount of corn (and corn derivatives) being eaten not only by humans,but most of the animals in the food chain (most of which were not designed to digest corn).
4. Excess consumption of HFCS is thought to lead to health problems such as obesity and diabetes.
5. The effects of GMO corn on individual who digest it is still unknown.
6. It is very hard to control the spread of GMO corn because it is wind pollinated.

So what can you do?

• Buy Organic:In our family we try to avoid all corn products that are not “organic.”Organic products are required GMO-free ingredients.
• Avoid (but don’t obsess over) HFCS:We also try to avoid HFCS in general. This is actually not that hard except at birthdays and holidays. Even most of the organic or “natural”candies and gummies have HFCS. We compromise on these as long as it is organic HFCS because we limit the amount they are eating.
• Support GMO labeling and the right to label foods GMO-free:Again here is the link to the FRESH petition.
• Educate yourself:Here are some books we have enjoyed. Please let me know your favorites.