food addiction

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We are getting sicker every day from cheap, addictive junk food. The food industry approaches food as “engineering projects,” with the end goal of creating “heavy users”—a disturbing internal term used by food manufacturers that helps them make as much money as possible at the expense of public health. It’s time we take a look at the intentional manipulation of our taste buds and the politics that support these practices.

In today’s episode, I talk with Michael Moss, Dhru Purohit, Calley Means, and Nina Teicholz about the formula to get you addicted to junk food and the money spent to influence you to buy more.

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Our society’s dominant narrative is that body size is a product of individual willpower. We are skinny or fat because of the choices we make: the kinds of food we buy, the amounts we eat, the exercise regimens we follow.

Research has never been kind to this thesis. It’s a folk narrative we use to punish people, not an empirical account of why residents of most rich countries are getting heavier over time. But, then, what account does fit the data?

In his 2017 book, “The Hungry Brain,” Stephan Guyenet, a neurobiologist, argues that weight gain is less about willpower than it is the product of an evolutionary mismatch between our brains, our genetics and our environments. Now a new class of weight loss drugs is raising the possibility that we can change our brains to fit this new environment.

Paired with diet and exercise, Ozempic and Wegovy caused anywhere from about a 15 percent to 18 percent loss of body weight over the course of just over a year in people classified as obese or overweight. And they do this in a way that aligns exactly with Guyenet’s research: They don’t make our bodies burn more calories, they make our brains crave less food.

So I asked Guyenet on the show to talk me through his model of weight gain, the research on these new drugs and the strange implications of living with old brains in a new world.

Mentioned:

“Relationship between food habituation and reinforcing efficacy of food” by Katelyn A. Carr and Leonard H. Epstein

“Dietary obesity in adult rats: Similarities to hypothalamic and human obesity syndromes” by Anthony Sclafani and Deleri Springer

“Why Have Americans Become More Obese?” by David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser and

Jesse M. Shapiro

“Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after “The Biggest Loser” competition” by Erin Fothergill, Juen Guo, Lilian Howard et al.

“The future of weight loss” by Stephan Guyenet

Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert

Book recommendations:

Burn by Herman Pontzer

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss

The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld, Rogé Karma and Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Pat McCusker and Kristina Samulewski.

We live in a nation awash with cheap, easy-to-get calories, mostly from highly processed convenience foods. Now, some researchers argue that these foods may actually be addictive – just like cigarettes or alcohol. Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, of the University of Michigan, talks about why highly processed foods may trigger addiction, the difference between addiction and simply liking to indulge in treats, who is most at risk for food addiction, and more.


Links


Ashley Gearhardt, PhD
Speaking of Psychology Home Page

Chris and Xand are doctors, scientists and identical twins. Well, not quite identical. Xand is 20kg heavier, clinically obese, and has a Covid induced heart condition.

Chris believes that the reason Xand is overweight is the same reason that most of us in the UK are overweight - Ultra Processed Food or UPF. It’s the main thing that we now eat and feed to our children, but most of us have never heard of it. It’s addictive, highly profitable and the main cause of the global obesity pandemic. It’s destroying our bodies, our brains and the environment.

In this series, recorded during the first coronavirus lockdown of 2020, Chris wants to help his brother quit UPF and get his health back. So, he has a plan. In an attempt to turn Xand's life around, Chris persuades his brother to eat a diet comprising 80% Ultra-processed food while learning about every aspect of it. By doing this, Chris tests two theories - that Xand is addicted to UPF, and that eating more of the stuff while learning about it, will help him quit. Chris believes that the science shows UPF is addictive and harmful to the body, not least by driving excess consumption and weight gain. By speaking with the world’s leading experts on obesity and nutrition, Xand will learn what UPF is made of, how it’s produced, whether it’s addictive, what it does to the human brain and body and how it is the number one force driving global obesity.

In episode 2 – UPF is not food - Chris and Xand meet Professor of Chemistry Andrea Sella to try to understand some of the more complex ingredients in Ultra Processed Food and the lies they tell us about when we are full and satisfied. Dr Fernanda Rauber was on the team who "discovered" UPF, and explains why it exists and that perhaps we are thinking about it in the wrong way - that it’s not food, it's an industrial formulation of chemicals.

Presented by Drs Chris and Xand Van Tulleken Produced by Hester Cant Executive Producers Philly Beaumont and Jo Rowntree A Loftus Media and van Tulleken Brothers Ltd production for BBC Radio 4