LATER-DAY DISEASE

What are we to think of the principle maladies of the second half of the twentieth century?  Why is it that heart disease, cancer and diabetes have become so commonplace.  What has changed?  These causes of death were way down the list prior to World War II.  Before that it was pneumonia, influenza, and gastrointestinal infectious.

So, what happened?  One group's answer is ammonium-nitrate.  You say you haven't eaten any of that stuff lately?  Maybe not, maybe you have. 

Well, what is it?  It's a chemical, of course; a crystaline substance.  It can be found in nature but most of it is made synthetically these days.  What is it used for?  It can be made into an explosive.  The IEDs (improvised explosive devices) you hear about in the Middle East are made out of it.  The Oklahoma City bombing years ago used ammonium-nitrate.

During World War II, we had mountains of it which we used to make bombs.  At the end of the war, the military had to figure out what to do with it.  Voila!  Add water and it produces nitrogen.  Voila! Fertilizer!  Sell it to farmers.  Farmers spread it on their corn and in the 1950's we doubled the output of corn in our country.   Sell corn to cattle ranchers to feed the cows, steers, and hogs.  We increased livestock production enormously. 

Food is plentiful and relatively cheap in America.  That is a blessing.  Alas!  It might be a curse.  It is difficult to make direct correlations between events like this but, it does make you think.  You and your family may be better off eating grass-fed beef,  if you can find it.  Mix in wild-caught fish and I'm sure you can't go wrong.  Ask for these at your local stores - or try a Whole Foods near you. 
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