Harmful Effects Of Corn Essay Sample
You may have thought it was healthy and made no second guesses on what else it's used for, but it has caused morbid obesity in America, corn. What is the problem? Well, the majority of fast-food restaurants use corn as a secret ingredient in meat, bread, soda, and fries. Corn products are harmful to human health, livestock, and the environment.
The use of corn and cultivation has affected the environment significantly. As said in the article, That Burger You're Eating Is Mostly Corn,” "Corn has been criticized as being unsustainable based on the unusual amount of fertilizer, water and machinery required to bring it to harvest…Eating a diet of meat from corn-fed animals hasn't been linked to any specific health effects in humans. But it has resulted in widespread environmental degradation, including drained water supplies, degraded soils, and reliance on fossil fuels for fertilizer, pesticides and farm machinery fuel.” We know that fossil fuel politician affects the Earth by increasing global warming and the drained water supply is a big issue in Western states Such as California, Nevada, and Arizona, which rely on the Colorado River to sustain their water usage.
The effect on livestock is also a big issue. Cattle stomachs are meant to break down the cellulose in the grass, not corn which led to mass antibiotic use in cows. As well, humans lose omega-3 fatty acids when fed corn-fed beef opposing to grass-fed beef. As stated in, That Burger You’re Eating is Mostly Corn,” all of the chicken, in addition to being sourced from just one company, Tyson Foods, Inc., had been fed an entirely corn diet, resulting in a chemical composition that was almost exactly the same from coast to coast…Further, by studying the levels of a particular heavier isotope of nitrogen, the researchers found that this corn-fed beef was relying on heavy applications of fertilizer as well as, potentially, animals surrounded by their own waste. "As metabolism proceeds, the nitrogen products become heavier and heavier," Jahrens explains. "Nitrogen is just cycling through the animal, including potentially ingestion of that waste or respiration. Our results are consistent with that."
There are many serious adverse effects on human health. Obesity is a big problem in America and 71% of the population is either overweight or obese, which 5 years ago was 5% less at 66%, meaning over 100 million people are in this group. Fast foods kill about 11 million people each year, compared to cigarettes, drugs, and high blood pressure combined. Child obesity is also a big problem as well. According to the CDC,” For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-20201: The prevalence of obesity was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents.” Eating fast food leads to obesity, depression, digestive issues, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death. Those are the long-term effects that do not take long to set in, because of fast-food addiction.
The facts show that fast food has many harmful effects on the most important thing in society, life. And it all goes back to corn usage and cultivation. Corn products are killing the environment, animals, and humans leading to the latest epidemic in society. So help the problem by putting down your Big Mac and staying away from it, buy grass-fed beef instead, going on a vegetarian/vegan diet to fight the negative effects of corn.
