There’s an industry that relies on you for $40 billion in tax subsidies every year, and like one of those cheap TV crime dramas that speaks to “sugar daddies” being murdered by younger partners, this industry might be literally poisoning you as it drains your bank account (yes, sometimes life imitates bad TV).
So, who's the prime suspect in our criminal caper?
The high fructose corn syrup industry. Now, I know that this statement is controversial. I’m not here to moralize to anyone about the kind of food choices they make. I mean, I believe in free markets after all. But the timeline is interesting. In fact, almost the exact year we started adding high fructose corn syrup to food, obesity rates began to skyrocket (table 1).
Now, correlation doesn’t mean causation, but this is probably a correlation worth exploring. But here’s the thing …
Adding high fructose corn syrup to the food supply doesn’t even make economic sense.
If you’ve taken a trip to Mexico, you might notice that the Coke tastes better. That’s because it’s made with cane sugar. In Europe, most sodas are sweetened with cane sugar or beet sugar (and that’s in spite of the fact that sweetening soda with high fructose corn syrup is one of the few places in the European food supply where corn syrup is allowed).
You see, in the absence of government subsidies, real sugar is more profitable to use, and considering how long it’s been in the food supply, it’s probably safer. So, as American taxpayers, should we be subsidizing the high fructose corn syrup industry to the tune of $40 billion a year? Should we really be the “sugar daddy” to an industry that might be poisoning us?
I’m not here to say one way or another. In the age of AI and Google search engines, supposedly definitive answers are easy to come by. Type something in a search bar somewhere, and you're likely to get some evidence that will back up your worldview. But I do want to pose a question: “Is something like this at least worth looking into?”
Soon we might find out.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Perio-Implant Advisory, a chairside resource for dentists and hygienists that focuses on periodontal- and implant-related issues. Read more articles and subscribe to the newsletter.
