Strangled By Corn
By Jesse Singal - Nov 13th, 2008 at 6:02 pmEffect Measure has an interesting post highlighting a study that used stable isotope analysis (I totally know what this means but, um, don’t want to show off…) to show, in the words of the authors, the “overwhelming importance of corn agriculture within virtually every aspect of fast food manufacture.”
This is the height of inefficiency:
Using published data, the authors note that if we eat just one hamburger, one chicken sandwich and one small order of fries we will be getting 50% of our recommended calories for the day, 80% of our carbs and 75% of our protein (90% for women). We would also be getting a full day’s worth of saturated fat. And all for just about $3.
This is a pretty remarkable nutritional bargain, but of course there are hidden costs (beyond the heart attack on a plate aspect). Corn as a feedstock is not only wasteful but highly subsidized. Our cheap meal is being paid for in other ways (taxes).
I’m way out of my element here, but this simply doesn’t seem like a sustainable way of running things.
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