Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fast Food Made Up Mostly of Corn

If you are what you eat, most Americans are an ear of corn (above), a November 2008 study suggests. A chemical analysis of popular fast food menus reveals that some form of the grain appears in most items. Photograph by Joe Schershel/NGS

From The National Geographic:

If you are what you eat, most Americans are an ear of corn, new research suggests.

A chemical analysis of popular fast foods reveals that some form of the grain appears as a main ingredient in most items—especially beef.

The researchers examined the molecular makeup of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and french fries purchased from three fast food chains in six U.S. cities.

"Out of the hundreds of meals that we bought, there were only 12 servings of anything that did not go straight back to a corn source," said study lead author Hope Jahren, a geobiologist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Corn's dominance in the nation's fast food is well known, "but the [chemical analysis] really bring it home in a way that hasn't been brought home before," said Craig Cox, Midwest vice president for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

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