Ashley Christensen

07/20/2023

Nutrition Perspectives: King Corn

The documentary I chose to watch was King Corn. This documentary stood out to me

partly because of a trend on social media centering around a boy who loves corn and partly

because of my genuine curiosity about how much corn we consume in America and the world. I

knew from history classes that corn was a very important staple for early pilgrims and natives, so

I wondered if it still was a resource that we depend on in modern life. To which unsurprisingly I

found my answer to be, yes. But at the same time, our reliance on and use of corn has also turned

into a bit of a monster that I don’t believe earlier generations could have predicted.

The film was produced and directed by Aaron Woolf. He attended the University of Iowa

and where he once was a film producer, he has shifted his focus from film to politics. While his

field of study has not been centered around nutrition, the trend of his work is on the focus of

people and policies and how government policies affect society. This film, King Corn, is

centered around two college friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis. Who participate in a simple

scientific test to see what foods their diet consisted of mostly, which turned out to be corn. From

there they decide to rent an acre in Iowa and follow the journey of corn through its growth,

harvest and all the possible destinations after harvest. Along with watching the progress of their

corn they also did some research into how farming has changed over time from family-run farms

to big industrial sized corporations. How policies in the 70s changed the way farmers planted,

how focus shifted from quality to quantity and how the plant had been modified and designed

specifically to yield more corn throughout the years.

 The documentary was released in 2007 and while that was sixteen years ago, I think it

still is very relatable to today. Why? Because high fructose corn syrup is still found commonly

and abundantly in sodas, candy, sauces, and juices. In the film, cost is discussed as a reason why

high fructose corn syrup and the use of corn in general is so popular, it’s because its cheap.

Throughout the film the two friends can be seen multiple times stopping for a quick meal at fast

food or shopping around the grocery store and almost everything they pick up contains added

sugar (high fructose corn syrup). These habits are still common today, fast food is cheap but also

high in saturated fats and sugars. There is also a scene where the two meet a man who shared his

struggle with soda and its negative impact on his life and when stopped drinking soda, and being

aware of what he consumed his weight dropped drastically. This I feel is a story many today can

still relate to. Not much about the popular use of corn syrup has changed over the last decade, I

can only say that the awareness of corn syrup and how high consumption of it affects the body

has increased through education in schools and posts on social media.

In the film it is discussed how the use of feedlots and corn-fed cows has increased the

amount of fat found in beef. Corn-fed beef has more fat marbling which produces more tender

cut of meat, and it is cheaper for the rancher as well. 80% of calories in processed meats come

from fat and a 3oz T-bone steak contains 9 grams of saturated fat whereas meat from grass-fed,

free-range cattle might only contain 1.3 grams of saturated fat. The problem lies with the fact

American diets are too high in saturated fats, the recommendation is 5% to 6% of total calories

consumed in a day be saturated fats, but 11% of the average American diet is saturated fat intake.

This leads to increased cholesterol and other possible complications pertaining to weight and

heart.
 Another issue discussed in the film is high fructose corn syrup, it is used in almost

everything the average American consumes. The most common source of this is sugar-sweetened

beverages like soda. The recommended limit of sugars in a day is no more than 9 teaspoons for

men and 6 teaspoons for women, according to the American Heart Association, and on average

and adult will consume 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day. While the numbers are

concerning, studies shown by the American Heart Association show that the Americans in recent

years are trying to limit how much sugar they consume in a day and big part of that is labelling

and spreading awareness. Back in 2007 when this documentary was filmed, Facebook was not

very popular, Instagram did not exist and neither did twitter or Pinterest. Information was spread

mostly through news on the TV or newspaper. I feel like the recent decline in sugar intake and

awareness of what we consume has improved simply because of ease of access to information

and alternatives.

The information I derived from this documentary was eye opening, to say the least. I was

fascinated by how farming had changed in such a short amount of time in America and how the

industrialization and mass production of corn came to be. I was mostly fascinated by a policy put

in place by Earl L. Butz in 1973, he basically told farmers to grow as much as they possibly

could, to expand their fields and he put no regulation on how much a farmer should grow in a

year. At first I was pretty appalled by this, from my perspective I couldn’t understand why he

would do that, the price of corn plummeted and farmers often have to use government subsidies

to survive and break even, but from Butz perspective it all made sense. He had grown up in rural

part of the country and working for your food was hard and expensive to buy, his experience

changed America, food no longer consumed most of your paycheck and technology made the

requirement of man power needed to run a farm much less. This ease of access to cheap food,
however, had I think unforeseen consequences. The generations to follow now face major health

crises, sugar is a great necessary for our bodies to work, but we have a great abundance of it so

much that this inflation has also inflated the rise of health problems such as high cholesterol,

obesity, and high blood sugar throughout the country. I learned a lot from this documentary and

its inspired me to make a few lifestyle choices for myself, such as eating less fast food and more

homemade meals, drinking less soda, and trying to pay attention to added sugars in my drinks

and food. I believe awareness is the first step to change, and that followed by education is the

best way to create healthier and more beneficial decisions.

Cited Sources:

American Heart Association “How Much Sugar is Too Much” https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-

living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/how-much-sugar-is-too-much#:~:text=Men%20should

%20consume%20no%20more,day's%20allotment%20in%20one%20slurp.

King Corn. Directed by Aaron Woolf. Distributed by Balcony Releasing October 12, 2007.