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Cameron Mertz
Mr. Rogers
Government
2 November 2015
Reforming Obesity
One out of every three adults in the United States are considered obese. This
means that one third of all US adults are at risk of heart disease, stroke, type two diabetes,
and various forms of cancer. This weight issue has been on the rise since the seventies,
continually getting worse. A major contributor to the obesity epidemic in the US is
unhealthy diets. These diets consist of processed commodity crops such as corn and
soybeans. These crops are produced in great numbers because of how heavily subsidized
they are by the government. Subsidies for commodity crops should be reduced in an
attempt to slow the rising levels of obesity, reduce the risk of diet related health
problems, and create a more equitable food system.
In order to halt the increasing number of people that are deemed obese in the US
the government must regulate the unhealthy foods that are causing these numbers to rise.
A great deal of these foods are made from highly processed commodity crops, crops that
are grown in large amounts at high intensity generally for sale to the commodities market.
As stated in the Agricultural and Resource Economics journal, around the 1970s farm
policies moved towards a focus on overproducing grain, one of the top five commodity
crops in the US; accordingly, the

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introduction of the obesity epidemic can be dated back to this time. The concentration on
overproducing grain, which is generally turned into fine flour, which can raise blood
sugar and accumulate fat, meant that it would be included in a significant amount of top
selling products; these products would be bought by families, leading to weight gain.
This increase in weight is described in research by Julian Alston, Daniel Sumner, and
Stephen Vosti, co-authors of the article Farm Subsidies and Obesity in the United
States. This article suggests that from 1960 to 1999 the percentage of adults that were
overweight increased by nearly thirty percent while the percentage of adults that were
obese increased by nearly fifteen percent. This noticeable rise in overweight and obese
adults was unlikely a coincidence but rather a result of greater consumption of processed
commodity crops. Joe Sexton, author of the article "Childhood Obesity Must Be
Addressed through Comprehensive Public Policy, claims that the greatest notable
contributor to childhood obesity is sugar-sweetened drinks, which, in the last decade,
have been responsible for a thirty percent increase in calorie intake in children. These
beverages are made from intensely processed corn, the top commodity crop in the US,
and have no nutritional value. The obesity epidemic will persist as long as such crops are
continuously used and consumed so often, leading to a life filled with risks.
Since commodity crops are so heavily subsidized, their processed products are
extremely abundant in markets, making them a staple in family diets. Adults in the United
States are at a rather high risk of developing health related diseases due to their poor
diets. Julian M. Alston, a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Research

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Economics at UC Davis, writes that farm subsidies are contributing to type-two diabetes,
stroke, and heart disease, coincidentally all risks that come with obesity. These life
threatening diseases usually come along with age but are becoming more common in a
wider age range because of the consumption of unhealthy foods made from highly
subsidized commodity crops. The Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition reports
that the lifetime risk of contracting diabetes will be one in every three of the children
born in 2000 if current obesity trends remain the same. Through better diets that do not
include high fructose corn syrup and similar products, the percentage of people that
develop diabetes can be greatly decreased, making a healthier general public. In an article
on the site Economics 411: Monetary and Financial Theory, it is stated that one of the
prevailing causes of cardiovascular disease is obesity, and one of the prevailing causes of
obesity is an overconsumption of high fructose corn syrup. Craig Sams, author of The
Little Food Book states that 30,000 Americans a year die of obesity, more than the total
annual toll of motor accidents, firearms, drugs and alcohol combined. The health of
Americans is disintegrating because of the continuous emphasis on commodity crops.
The sale of processed commodity crops directly correlates with health issues that are
being seen more and more often. US citizens are becoming increasingly at risk for these
such issues because of their poor choice in diet, whether it be because of taste or price.
The high levels of diet related health issues and obesity are in part due to the
unequal sale of healthy and unhealthy foods in our markets. On the website for A Place
at the Table in an article called Agricultural Policy it is said that one can purchase three
hundred and twelve calories of healthy food versus three thousand seven hundred and

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sixty seven calories of unhealthy food for three dollars. Calorie per calorie, processed
foods are much cheaper, making them more accessible to a greater number of people.
Decreasing food prices are responsible for up to half of the total increase in obesity that is
seen today, says Scott Fields in his article The Fat of the Land. As food prices decline,
which is generally seen in foods with little to no nutritional value, more people are drawn
to the low price rather than the quality of the product.
Although through a great deal of research the negative effects of commodity crop
subsidizes are clearly visible, many will maintain their view that these subsidizes are
necessary and should stay in place because such crops are also used in products that
promote health and it is the consumers choice what they buy in the markets. It is true that
corn is good for ones health- in fact, according to Blaine Friedlander, cooked sweet corn
has the ability to reduce heart disease and cancer- along with other commodity crops.
However, the ways in which a majority of these foods are being processed strips them of
most of their health benefits, and leaves them to cause severe health issues. Many people
insist that the government should not reduce commodity crop subsidizes because even if
they are converted to health destroying products it is the consumers choice if they want to
face the risk. This may be a convincing argument, but the truth is many consumers are
not aware of what they are buying and whether it is bad for their health due to indistinct
labeling on the packaging of these products. Under the Food Labeling Guide on the
FDAs website it is written that Under FDA's laws and regulations, FDA does not preapprove labels for food products. This means that, theoretically, nutritional labeling
could be false or deceptive. There are undoubtedly a large number of reasons why the

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Healthy Farm Subsidies Act is seen as unfair to farmers and consumers, however the
issues that come along with the overconsumption of these products far outweigh every
single one.
Governmental subsidizing for commodity crops should be reduced significantly to
slow and eventually stop the obesity epidemic, lessen the risk of diet related health issues,
and create a more equitable food system in our markets. If we want to live in a country
where what we eat causes us to be sick and inactive then this act is unnecessary, however
there are few people who would want to live like this. In order to be secure when it
comes to health, Americans must limit their consumption of overly processed food
products, and in order to do that the government needs to take away the current emphasis
that accompanies such products.

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Works Cited
"Agricultural Policy." A Place at the Table. WordPress, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Alston, Julian M. UC Davis Cancer Center Gets Comprehensive Cancer Discovery
2.5 (2012): 381. 12 Dec. 2008. Web.25 Sept. 2015.
"Economics 411: Monetary and Financial Theory." Economics 411 Monetary and
Financial Theory. N.p., 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Fields, Scott. The Fat of the Land: Do Agricultural Subsidies Foster Poor Health?
Environmental Health Perspectives. National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, Oct. 2004. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.
Friedlander, Blaine. "Cooking Sweet Corn Boosts Its Ability to Fight Cancer and Heart
Disease by Freeing Healthful Compounds, Cornell Scientists Find | Cornell
Chronicle." Cooking Sweet Corn Boosts Its Ability to Fight Cancer and Heart
Disease by Freeing Healthful Compounds, Cornell Scientists Find | Cornell
Chronicle. Cornell Chronicle, 8 Aug. 2002. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
Jackson, Richard J., Ray Minjares, Kyra S. Naumoff, Bina Patel Shrimali, and Lisa K.
Martin. "Agriculture Policy Is Health Policy." Journal of Hunger &
Environmental Nutrition. Taylor & Francis, 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Sams, Craig. The Little Food Book: You Are What You Eat. New York, NY:
Disinformation, 2004. Print.
Sexton, Joe. "Childhood Obesity Must Be Addressed through Comprehensive Public
Policy." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
"U.S. Food and Drug Administration." Food Labeling Guide. N.p., Sept. 1994. Web. 02

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Nov. 2015.
V. 11 No. Nov/dec 0. V. 11 No. Nov/Dec 007 Farm Subsidies and Obesity in the
United States (n.d.): n. pag. Agricultural and Resource Economics. Nov.-Dec.
2007. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.