Why are Americans Growing Obese Blame Richard Nixon and Earl Butz

							Why are Americans Growing Obese Blame
Richard Nixon and Earl Butz
Matt Bewig
All Gov
June 18, 2012

Americans are overweight and getting fatter, probably
because they are sugar addicts. From 1971 to 2000, obesity
rates in the United States more than doubled, from 14.5%
to 30.9%, and today about 68% of U.S. adults are
overweight and 33.8% are obese. Although people are
eating more calories than before, this alone cannot account
for our growing girth, nor can changes in exercise and
physical activity. The issue is a pressing one, because
obesity shortens lives and costs Americans about $150
billion in health care expenses each year.
Researchers increasingly believe that changes in the nutritional
content of the food we eat may be the most important
pathological factor in explaining the obesity epidemic, and those changes can be traced to changes in
U.S. Agricultural policy initiated during President Richard Nixon’s administration. Earl Butz, who was
Nixon’s Agriculture secretary starting in January 1971, used his department’s subsidies programs to
push American farmers to increase their production of corn, and helped increase its export around the
world, When corn prices fell and a surplus developed, Butz championed the spread of high fructose
corn syrup (HFCS), which is made from corn and is cheaper than conventional sugar. HFCS use has
skyrocketed in the ensuing decades, so that today it can be found in processed foods as varied as pizza,
meat, bread, coleslaw and soft drinks. Some Americans prefer to buy Coca-Cola manufactured in
Mexico because it is made with sugar, whereas U.S.-made Coca-Cola uses HFCS. Perhaps most
insidious is the fact that Big Food adds HFCS to make its low-fat food products palatable, yet modern
research suggests that intake of sugars, including HFCS, may be worse for human health than the fats
they replace. Experts like former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler argue that Americans have
become a nation of sugar addicts, and that food manufacturers create products by manipulating
ingredients, especially sugar and fat, to stimulate our appetites and set in motion a cycle of desire and
consumption that results in obesity. Given that corn subsidies put billions of dollars into the pockets of
farmers and agribusiness, their lobbies have been particularly vocal and effective in maintaining them.

The World According to Monsanto video below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH6wqCC5wQo

Food, Inc. video below
http://vimeo.com/30620523

Food Matters video below
http://vimeo.com/28649517

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