Sugars in general, and high-fructose corn syrup in particular. It is added to a lot of products in the US "to make them more pallatable". Which is an euphemism

Sugars in general, and high-fructose corn syrup in particular. It is added to a lot of products in the US "to make them more pallatable". Which is an euphemism for "to sell more". Rice is carbs, yes. But it also fills the stomach (for a while, at least - beans are better and proteins are much better on that field). Sugar/Syrup has the opposite effect. It is addictive and it makes you crave for more. It is also very cheap. So food vendors add it to everything - to sell you more. Meat. Cheese. To me (from Europe) US bread tastes like cake. European and Asian food producers are gradually catching up on this strategy and are adding extra sugars, so the obesity levels are also increasing, especially in big cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_China It just has not reached US levels. To me doesn't make sense that something so unhealthy as corn syrup (and other sugars) isn't more heavily taxed. Right now food producers are making their buck by passing the bill to the US health care, which is a big chunk of the US central budget (and also very inefficient). It's a drag on the whole US economy, in addition of causing a lot of human tragedy.