Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Since most of the micronutrients, fiber, water, protein, and fat have been processed out of these foods, your body gets lots of calories but still doesn’t feel nourished—so you overconsume.

Since then, the U.S. government has launched dozens of other efforts to improve our diets. For example, there was the “Five a Day” campaign, intended to encourage people to eat five fruits or vegetables, the USDA’s food pyramid, and a push for low-fat cheeses and milks. None of them adhered to the committee’s findings. None tried to camouflage thei

Maybe obesity rates have increased because food is more enjoyable than it has ever been, causing people to eat more. Rewards reinforce behavior, and the behavior of eating is rewarded by the palatability—the deliciousness—of the food. The increased palatability of food is not accidental. Societal changes have resulted in more meals being eaten away

the government protects sugar, and the government subsidizes corn. As a result, more foods get made with high-fructose corn syrup, and more cattle get fed corn, meaning more cattle get fed antibiotics. The quantity of high-fructose corn syrup thus goes up in our diet, and the prevalence of dangerous bacteria goes up as well. And in complicated ways