Corn, a species of domesticated grass, covers a total area in the USA roughly 2 times the size of New York State. In the USA, it typically costs roughly 2.5 dollars to grow 1 bushel of corn that sells for 1.45 dollars. The deficit of 1.05 dollars plus profits is paid for with government subsidies.

More than 40 percent of the world's corn is grown in the USA, and more than 50 percent of the corn grown in the USA has been genetically modified. Moreover, when you add together fertilizers, pesticides, production and transportation, it takes more than 1 calorie of fossil fuel energy to produce 1 calorie of processable corn. In fact, 1 fifth of America's petroleum consumption goes to the production and transportation of food.

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It is estimated that this year's corn harvest in the USA will amount to roughly 12.3 billion bushels. There are about 90 ears of corn in the average bushel. That means that this years harvest will result in approximately 1.1 trillion ears of corn. That is enough to supply every American with 10 ears of corn every day for a year.

Eating the kernels off of one ear of corn accounts for the intake of roughly 132 calories. The recommended daily calorie intake varies between 1800 and 3000 depending upon height, weight, and activeness. So if the average recommended calorie intake is around 2400 calories per day, it would take about 18 ears of corn each day to have sufficient energy.

Livestock in America consumes 60 percent of America's corn. That means that every year, 660 billion ears of corn go to cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, catfish, and—thanks to some genetic engineering—even salmon. If 18 ears of corn can sustain a human's necessary calorie intake for a day, then the corn consumed by livestock alone could support 100 million people per year. In other words, American livestock eat enough corn to sustain 1.5 percent of the world's total human population.

It takes roughly 10 pounds of corn to grow 1 pound of beef. Because of the fact that cows cannot naturally digest corn, 70 percent of America's total antibiotics go to fighting stomach ulcers and other diseases in cattle. Moreover, if you total the amount of petroleum used to grow and transport the corn consumed by 1 cow from birth to the time of its slaughter, it will have consumed over 1 barrel of petroleum.

The waste from 1 cow is equivalent to that of 17 humans. There are roughly100 million cattle in the USA. That means that the waste from the American cattle population accounts for nearly 6 times that of the American human population. And on top of that, cattle account for roughly 26 percent of all methane emissions in the USA. That is just under that of landfills at 34 percent, and over that of natural gas and oil systems at 22%.

Since the world's cattle population is near 1.3 billion, there is over 3 times more cow feces added to the planet daily than human feces.

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About 20 percent of corn is processed as ethanol. That is expected to rise to above 30 percent by 2015.

About 10 percent of corn grown in the USA is processed into corn syrup. Corn syrup is about 20 percent cheaper than other sources of sugar. In 30 years, the demand for corn syrup has grown by 30 percent while the demand for sugar has dropped.

Americans consume an average of 42 pounds of high fructose corn syrup each per year, which is a great contribution to the nation's obesity crisis. Over 70 percent of corn syrup ends up as a beverage sweetener.

Last year, 139 million gallons of soda were consumed in Brooklyn, New York. There are about 2.5 million people in Brooklyn, NY; which means that Brooklyners average about 56 gallons of soda each per year, or 1.5 cans of soda per day. 1 sweetened soda per day doubles the amount of risk for diabetes. It is a fact that1 in 8 New Yorkers now has diabetes.



Sources:

Cheney, Ian and Curtis Ellis. King Corn. Dir. Aaron Woolf. 2007

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006.

Yousfi, Jennifer. Corn Price Report. Money Morning. August, 2008. http://www.moneymorning.com/money-morning-corn-price-report/.

Mangino, Joe. US EPA Cattle Enteric Fermentation Model (CEFM). Environmental Protection Agency. April 30, 2003.
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei12/green/present/mangino.pdf.

Maize. Wikipedia. August, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize.

Voiland, Adam. Health Reasons to Cut Back on Corn Consumption. US News and World Report. December 17, 2007.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/50-ways-to-improve-your-life/2007/12/17/health-reasons-to-cut-back-on-corn-consumption.html.

According to the United Nations, 852 million people in the world face starvation. That is close to 1 of every 8 people.

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The body mass index (BMI) of a an individual measures the relative percentage of fat and muscle in the body by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared; meaning that since I weigh 62 kilograms and am 1.72 meters tall I have a BMI of 21.0. Normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, overweight is between 25 and 29.9, and Obese is 30 or greater. America leads the world in obesity with 30.6 percent of the population having a body mass index of 30 and over. That means that over 3 of every 10 Americans is clinically obese. In contrast, only 2.6 percent of China's population is obese.

The average American has a BMI of 29.8 while the average Chinese has a BMI of 21.1. The average adult height of a American is 1.694 meters, which means that the average weight is 85.4 kilograms (188.3 pounds). The average adult height of Chinese is 1.641 meters, which means that the average weight is 56.8 kilograms (125.2 pounds). US America's adult population numbers approximately 222,000,000. China's adult population numbers approximately 951,000,000. That means that the America's cumulative adult population weighs 19 billion kilograms (42 billion pounds) while China's cumulative adult population weighs 54 billion kilograms (119 billion pounds).

If Chinese adults weighed as much as American adults, it would add 27 billion kilograms (60 billion pounds) to China's total human body mass. That is greater than the entire weight of the American adult population by 142 percent. If we consider fat and water to be of the same density where 1 kilogram of fat equals 1 liter, then that would mean 27 billion kilograms (60 billion pounds) of fat could fill the coliseum in Rome 1,000 times.

Vice versa, if Americans had a body mass index of 21.1, which would be considered healthy, then American adults would weigh approximately 60.5 kilograms (133 pounds). That would eliminate over 5.5 billion kilograms (12 billion pounds) of human fat from the planet's surface. This year, Sudan will be short 720 million kilograms of food for its starving people. Therefore, America's excess fat alone could fix Sudan's food shortage for over 7.6 years.

America's population with diabetes is 19.5 million, 6.5 percent of the population. China's population with diabetes has grown to over 50 million, 3.8 percent of the population. That number is expected to grow to 100 million by 2025. In the past 10 years, China's childhood obesity rate has doubled. Over 8.1 percent of urban children are obese while only 3.1 percent of rural children are obese. This is still far behind America's childhood obesity rate of 15 percent.

A study by a Cornell University nutritional biochemist named T. Colin Campbell revealed that US Americans consume 10 times more animal protein and 15 grams a day less fiber than the average Chinese. In addition, whereas Chinese only get about 15 percent of their calories from dietary fat, Americans get close to 40 percent. Campbell concludes that if Americans could reduce their calories from fat to 15 percent, they could reduce their risk of developing degenerative diseases like diabetes and cancer before the age of 65 by 80 to 90 percent.

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There are now over 790 McDonald's outlets and 1,200 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in China. In 2005, McDonald's opened its first drive though in China. McDonald's plans to open 300 new outlets in the country over the next 3 years, more than half of which will have a drive-thru.


Sources:

Chinese Children Taller and Heavier. Xinhua News Agency. December 31, 2006
http://www.china.org.cn/english/health/194691.htm.

Americans are Heavier Than Ever. Aramark. April, 2007.
http://www.aramark.com/PressReleaseDetailTemplate.aspx?PostingID=854&ChannelID=321.

Human Height. Answers.com. April, 2007.
http://www.answers.com/topic/human-height.

Chinese Body Mass Index Is Much Lower as a Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease. American Heart Association, Inc. 2004.
http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/109/14/e184.

Body Mass Index. Answers.com. April, 2007.
http://www.answers.com/body%20mass%20index.

Rights: Millions of Starving Shame the World, U.N. Says. International Press Service News Agency. April, 2007.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35166.

Obesity Skyrocketing in China as the Chinese Adopt Western Diets, Lifestyles. News Target. August 18, 2006.
http://www.newstarget.com/020042.html.

Obesity Explosion May Weigh on China's Future. National Geographic News. August 8, 2006.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060808-china-fat.html.

Calculate Your Body Mass Index. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. April, 2007.
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmi-m.htm.

Chinese Diabetes Population Over 50 Million. International Diabetes Federation. November 9, 2004.
http://www.globalnews.idf.org/2004/11/chinese_diabete.html.

Study: 73M have diabetes or are at risk in U.S. USA Today. May, 2006.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-29-diabetes-study_x.htm.

Serious Food Shortages Emerging in Southern Somalia. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States. April, 2007.
http://www.fao.org/News/GLOBAL/GW9711-e.htm.

Sudan: Food Shortages Spreading Beyond Conflict Areas. Refugees International. 2004.
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/5134/.

China Studies Link Diet to Disease. Cornell University. Spring, 1995.
http://www.rso.cornell.edu/scitech/archive/95spr/cna.html.

McDonalds Expansion in China. China Business News & Observer. April 17, 2007.
http://cbnando.com/Html/Economic/2007-3/1/170942207.html.

Consumers in China Push Fast Food Expansion. Finance Markets. July 27, 2005.
http://www.financemarkets.co.uk/2005/07/27/consumers-in-china-push-fast-food-expansion/.

North America—USA—Health Statistics. Asia—China—Health Statistics. Health Statistics—Obesity by Country. Nation Master. April, 2007
http://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/us-united-states/hea-health&all=1.
http://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/ch-china/hea-health&all=1.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity.