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Obesity and Farm Bill
Every five to seven years, Congress starts to draft and work on a legislation known as the United States’ Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is an umbrella that covers different bills that affects United States’ agriculture and food. It focuses on two major thrusts: “(1) food stamps and nutritional programs and (2) income and price supports for commodity crops .”

The Farm Bill is also one of the biggest contributors to the ongoing obesity epidemic. Over the past decade the government’s farm policy focused on the overproduction and the reduction of prices of commodity crops such as corn and soybean. Low commodity prices offer incentives for firms to create new ways to use the commodity crops. The low prices of corn and soybean led to the creation of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oils-- ingredients that have been linked to obesity. Throughout the years these ingredients have been implemented into everyday ingredients. In 1998 over 11,000 food products were introduced to Americans. Out of these products about 75 percent of them were candies, condiments, cereals, and beverages-all foods high in added high fructose corn syrup. Over the past thirty years, U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup increased over 1,000 percent.

Unhealthy foods tend to be inexpensive when compared to their healthy counterparts. Because fruits and vegetables are not subsidized, the real cost of such crops have risen nearly 40 percent. On the other hand the prices for soda, sweets, and fats and oils have declined due to the subsidy that the government provides for commodity crops. “Currently the least expensive food available is also the most caloric and the least nutritious: a dollar’s worth of cookies or potato chips yields 1200 calories, while a dollar’s worth of carrots yields only 250 calories. ”

The Farm Bill contributes to the low prices that fast food provides because farmers feed the commodity crops to the cows and livestock that people eventually eat. Essential Nutrients are taken away when cows are fed corn and or soybeans instead of their natural diet on grass. “Grass-fed beef has been shown to be higher in health-promoting nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids and cancer-ﬁghting conjugated linoleic acid (cla) than beef that is fed grain. ” Because the government provides a subsidy for the food that feeds the cows, corn and soybeans, they also provide a subsidy for grain-fed livestock and as a result make it hard for farmers to raise grass-fed livestock due to the fact that they have to compete with livestock producers that have a quicker turn-around.

Obesity and Low Income
Low income families are more vulnerable to Overweight and Obesity due to the low access of high quality, nutritious food in their neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that lack access to nutritious foods are considered to be a Food Desert.

Low income neighborhoods and communities of color lack full service grocery stores. “In Washington, DC, for example, the city’s lowest-income and almost exclusively African American wards (Wards 7 and 8) have one supermarket for every 70,000 inhabitants, while two of the three highest-income and predominantly white wards (Wards 2 and 3) have one for every 11,881 residents. One in five of the city’s food stamp recipients live in a neighborhood without a grocery store.” A report issued in 2002 by the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College found out that “middle- and upper-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles had 2.26 times as many supermarkets per capita than in low-income neighborhoods.” Due to the low amount of grocery stores, low income residents rely on small corner stores for their food and produce. A study that was conducted in 21 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas found out that there are fewer and smaller stores in low-income zip codes than in their counterparts. Due to the low amount of supermarkets located in low income neighborhoods, residents that reside in these neighborhoods have access to lesser quality food and their product selection is more limited when comparing the selection in wealthier neighborhoods. For example, corner markets in low-income neighborhoods are less likely to offer healthy selections such as whole-grain breads and lower-fat and dairy options.

Low income neighborhoods are burdened with an abundance of fast food outlets. A 2005 study that was conducted in Chicago found out that “African American neighborhoods had 13.7 major fast food restaurants per 100,000 neighborhoods residents, while White neighborhoods had 9.4 per 100,000 residents." Fast food restaurants offer inexpensive, calorie dense foods, but that same food is also nutrient-poor and unhealthy, with high levels of sugar, fat, and sodium. For example, according the USDA recommended calories; a MacDonald’s meal has more than half of the calories needed each day.  In short terms the residents of these communities are making an economically rational decision when purchasing fast food. It considered a rational decision because they rather buy tasty, calorie-dense and inexpensive fast food meals instead of purchasing groceries of high cost and low quality. In the long term however, the fast food that is available to them hurt their overall health raising the probability of them getting obese.