Craig Stevens, vice president of American Beverage Association, applauded Caleb Jordan’s article that linked high-fructose corn syrup found in soft drinks and obesity. (Letter, May 15.)

But then Stevens says soda can be a healthy part of a diet.

It is interesting an “Academic Advocate” article by a middle-schooler caught the attention of a Washington D.C.-based beverage company executive. The man doth protest too much.

Any doubts about the syrup/obesity link are dispelled with a quick Internet search. Hordes of articles and studies make the case. The syrup is not only linked to obesity, but to many other epidemic health problems, such as diabetes.

Michael Pollan’s book, “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” chronicles how the mega-farm corn industry created the problem in the early 1980s, when it successfully plied its excess corn production onto the soft drink industry.

Government farm subsidies made corn a “sweet,” cheap, alternative to cane sugar.

Corn industry middle men, ever wanting to increase production and their profits, hatched the idea of super-sizing; ergo, the outlandishly huge, cheap drinks that are now offered at every fast food restaurant and convenience store.

If Congress doesn’t smarten up by cutting the farm subsidies that feed this vicious cycle, let’s hope that consumers do by limiting their intake of that poison. You won’t find any soft drinks in my home.

Nor will you find any obesity.

Kathleen Kienitz, Lewiston