Was this a giant conspiracy to keep us sick? Doubtful. The large subsidies were simply the result of programs to make food affordable, which began in earnest in the 1970s. Back then, the major health concern was not obesity, but the “epidemic” of heart disease that was believed to be the result of excess dietary fat. The base of the Food Pyramid, the foods to be eaten by each of us every day, was bread, pasta, potatoes and rice. Naturally, money flowed into subsidies for those foods, the production of which was encouraged by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Refined grains and corn products
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