this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] FrowingFostek@lemmy.world 68 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I don't think it was the Mexican farmers that gave us diabeetus. I'd blame it on the sugar cartels in the US.

[–] xtools@programming.dev 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

that's a bingo! rest of the world doesn't use corn syrup

[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

High-fructose maize isn't an Indegenous invention: that's a White invention.

_ /\ _

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[–] Stupidmanager@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You can blame the sugar cartels all you want, The truth is if you’re an American, you finance this shit through your taxes. Corporations suck, but what sucks more is that people don’t realize they help pay for their own slow demise in the name of profit.

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[–] xtools@programming.dev 46 points 1 month ago (4 children)

thx for the diabeetus

you know you don't have to turn it into corn syrup right? that crap isn't used widely anywhere but in the US

[–] Taldan@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Corn syrup is better than our other main use for it: Ethanol

Problem is that we have such extreme subsidies that vast swaths of farmers are now entirely reliant on corn subsidies. We make far more corn than we have any use for because of it

No politician wants to be the one to take away the insane corn subsidies because a whole lot of farmers will be upset, and the American public is generally unaware of how wasteful the subsidies are

[–] coaxil@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 month ago

The crazy thing is, every time I have tried a yank drink with corn syrup that my country has the equivalent to without corn syrup, the yank one tastes like ass without fail, and leaves your mouth feeling weird.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 10 points 1 month ago

Seriously, grilled on the cob dipped in butter is the most bestest way to consume this sweet grass!

[–] flora_explora@beehaw.org 5 points 1 month ago

Especially because most of the corn eaten in the rest of the Americas isn't sweet at all. It's more equivalent of rice, pasta, potatoes, etc...

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 36 points 1 month ago (2 children)

and turkey, they domesticated the turkey we eat...

[–] mmmm@sopuli.xyz 43 points 1 month ago (2 children)

and china, they domesticated chinese food

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 17 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Chinese food as we know, everywhere except China, is a purely American invention. It's history is really interesting, especially how the restaurant owners of the 80s convinced everyone MSG was poison.

[–] Duranie@leminal.space 13 points 1 month ago

It even started in the late 60's early 70's, originally referred to at "Chinese restaurant syndrome." Rooted in anti Asian racism, supposedly we were slowly being poisoned... by tasty tasty Asian food with added msg.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

Chinese food* as we** know

*only applicable to western chinese food

**the American

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So... it's not poison? Propaganda is a bitch

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

It's psychosomatic. MSG is also in tomatoes, mushrooms, and tons of savory salted snacks such as Doritos. None of those tend to trigger the symptoms people claim to have after eating Chinese food.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What do people claim about MSG?

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 17 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Personal anecdote from cooking for years for a variety of people of varying intelligence, background, and countries:

Most people claim it gives them headaches and nausea.

They "know" this because they feel it every time they eat (american) "Chinese food"

Not a single one has ever had either symptom after eating my cooking that has a little sprinkled in.

Now, I have tried to prove a point to some by informing them (many hours after the food, and asking about how they feel) that they in fact ingested MSG without issue and had no symptoms, usually to rounds of spontaneous nausea and headaches that had apparently gone unnoticed for hours until just then.

It could be that ingesting a shit-load of greasy, oily, carbs and over-eating that caused their nausea and headaches when they gorged themselves on "Chinese" food, but no, they know it's the MSG.

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So, in short, they're heavily allergic to their own thought processing.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Some people do seem to confuse cognitive dissonance with being sick, and not that their fucking pathetic understanding of the world has just been challenged.

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[–] Supervisor194@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"Ranch" flavor comes basically 100% from salt and MSG. There is a microscopic amount of herbs that make next to no difference. Ask anyone who thinks MSG is bad for you if they have cut out Ranch dressing for some hilarity. (May not apply to non-Americans).

[–] F_State@midwest.social 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Ranch is basically garlic and onion flavor.

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[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In Turkey corn is called "Egypt" and India is called "land of" either "Turkeys" or "Hinduists" depending on how you chose to interpret it.

I select the first one.

[–] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Mexico didn’t exist back then. Europeans hadn’t conquered and genocided and created states in the Americas.

This was native (indigenous) americans.

[–] hide@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 month ago

indigeneity and nationality are two different concepts that have nothing to do with each other.

this can range from indigenous Oaxacans who are US citizens to Mexican citizens who are settlers who murder indigenous people in Mexico to steal their land.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

What did the natives call the region in their language?

[–] wieson@feddit.org 8 points 1 month ago

I don't know where exactly maize was cultivated, but Mexico comes from city Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

They found millenia old traces of maize in the valley of the Rio Balsa in Xihuatoxtla and also in the valley of Tehuacán.

Something about Coxcatlán phase. Couldn't find a name of a people who would have been responsible for the domestication.

It's easiest to say it happened in Mesoamerica.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Well before Mexico, it was the Aztecs and they called their land Aztlán, Mexico is probably some bastardized name from Nahuatl

[–] HorreC@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

there was never a Aztec people that was the name someone made up. The Mexica people are the ones you are talking about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs

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[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 month ago

thx for the diabeetus

fun fact, that is a eugenicist health scare campaign started by settlers to demonize indigenous peoples whose traditional diets are rich in corn.

famine and genocide are known causes of chronic illness. surviving colonialism is inherently disabling and heightened diabetes rates are a side-effect of that. it makes no scientific sense to me to completely ignore the social determinants of health and blame the diets of entire ethnic groups for their chronic illness rates.

[–] F_State@midwest.social 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The change from teosinte to maize involved a surprisingly small change to it's genetic code. Something like 5 genes.

[–] GameOverFlow@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

So there is hope for people with small dick size? 

[–] F_State@midwest.social 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Learn to eat pussy/suck dick or find a partner with an unusually small vagina/bussy.

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[–] reabsorbthelight@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

To become corn? Very little.

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[–] TrollTrollrolllol@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

They werent mexicans they were mayans, spanish came over and banged em' turned em into mexicans.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ask your local chatbot today about the teosinte emoji

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ain't nobody made you fat from that but you. If you were living like the natives were back then, you might be keeping fitter with it

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

And if 90% of it wasn't GMO'd to hell so that the fructose yield was unnaturally high

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I tell you, there is nothing more Lemmy than people taking jokes/memes super seriously in the comments.

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[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It feels kinda strange to call them Mexican farmers. Like referring to the people who lived where the US is 9000 years ago "American Farmers".

Like I guess that's technically correct in a way. But it still feels weird.

[–] F_State@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

You might say "prehistoric mexican farmers" or "prehistoric farmers of modern day mexico"

[–] AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

While some foods are associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, no single ingredients in and of themselves cause diabetes - obesity does. That's why every fad diet can make a semi-credible claim to have "cured" people's diabetes. If you lose enough weight, it might go into remission.

And to be clear, none of what I just said is meant to imply a moral, individual failure on the part of anyone who is living/struggling with obesity and diabetes. It's a complex thing, and like all complex things we can go ahead and blame corporations for it. 👍

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