You ever wonder why “Big Gulps” and “Super-Size Me” are modern inventions when we have had soda for decades? It is not because people have just recently acquired a taste for the sugary beverage. In fact, it is because no one could stomach that much soda decades ago. Literally, when you ate too much sugar your body would reject the contents of your stomach. 

Not any more, thanks to high fructose corn syrup, you won’t lose your giant lunch. Still not seeing a problem? You never get full and never feel satisfied. One liter of soda later and you are still craving sugar. Princeton University has even started linking high fructose corn syrup to abnormal weight gain when compared to other sweeteners. And we wonder why America keeps having to loosen its belt with all our diet fads and the French, eating eclairs, stay skinny.  It is time we start pondering the unfamiliar ingredients on the labels of our food. We may then discover the unfortunate truth: our food is toxic.

—Lara Isaacson

Freshman, Eleanor Roosevelt College