When a marketing flack offered to send me a review copy of “King Corn,” which comes out on DVD today, I promised “to take a look at it.” I never thought I’d enjoy it. After all, it’s a documentary about corn.

Boy, was I wrong. Part “Supersize Me” and part “Fast Food Nation,” “King Corn” is a fascinating and eye-opening look at our nation’s increasing reliance on corn — and its effect on our health.

The feature follows two friends, Ian Chaney and Curt Ellis (pictured above), who move from the East Coast to Iowa for a year to grow one acre — just one — of corn and follow it into our food supply.

Along their often-irreverent odyssey, they unearth a bumper crop of fascinating information about farming, subsidies, our food supply and our national diet, including:

Average amount of high-fructose corn syrup consumed by an American in 1970: 0.6 pounds.

Average consumed in 2000: 73.5 pounds.

Wow! If Morgan Spurlock’s “Supersize Me” made you think twice about going to McDonald’s, “King Corn” will have you re-evaluating everything you eat.

“King Corn” was screened at last month’s Phoenix Film Festival. If you didn’t catch it there, put it in your Netflix queue today.

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