Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions

by Michael Moss

Starting back in the 1930s, the government worried that many of us were malnourished from eating too little, and hunger remains a problem today. But increasingly, the concern has turned to the many more of us who are malnourished from eating too much of the wrong things. We’re getting enough calories, but they’re devoid of the nutrients and fiber we need to be healthy, and thus the host of conditions from type 2 diabetes to gout to cardiovascular disease that are tied to poor eating habits. Or we’re getting too many calories altogether: With obesity pushing past 40 percent, gambling on processed food was no longer a roll of the dice; it was more like the flip of a coin.