'The Real Cost of Cheap Food ...
Why the American food system is bad for our bodies, our economy and the environment,' by Bryan Walsh:
'The crop is heavily fertilized-both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop-at least until corn ethanol skewed the market-artificially low.
That's why McDonald's can sell you a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5-a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults. ...
[F]ruits and vegetables don't receive the same price supports as grains.
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit.
With the backing of the government, farmers are producing more calories-some 500 more per person per day since the 1970s-but too many are unhealthy calories
Given that, it's no surprise we're so fat;
it simply costs too much to be thin. Our expanding girth is just one consequence of mainstream farming.
Another is chemicals.'
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