Dangers of Corn Byproducts

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Children of the Corn Melanie Ho DeVry University Children of the Corn What's scarier than a fictional story about manic children killing to appease a corn obsessed demon? How about the real life obsession America has with corn and its byproducts. Some parts may sound like it could be derived from a Stephen King novel but the lengths that America has gone to to ensure its corn supply is very real. The overuse of corn and its byproducts are ruining America's diet and having a negative effect on agricultural businesses and the environment from small town farms all the way to the Amazon. Kim Ratz (2005) calculated that out of the 10,000 items that consumers find in a typical grocery store, “At least 2,500 items use corn in some form during the production or processing.” The solution would be to start replacing corn products such as High Fructose Corn Syrup with with less damaging sweeteners. One alternative is Lucuma Powder. According to Navitasnaturals.com (2011), Lucuma Powder has been certified as raw, kosher, gluten-free, vegan, and 100% organic. It also actually has healthy benefits such as naturally occurring beta-carotene, niacin, and iron. And it's actually very low in sugars. This will act as a solution for the second problem because it will lessen the demand for corn farms which is affecting agricultural business and the need for deforestation. First, High Fructose Corn Syrup (or HFCS) should be removed because it serves no higher purpose other than to add “taste” to products while filling the body with empty calories. HFCS first became a problem when America actually had too much corn and didn't know what to do with it. Exploration began of just how many ways this vegetable could be used. HFCS was the result of one of those experiments. It was discovered that it could be used to sweeten nearly everything whether

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