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

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Moss exposes how the food industry uses our own psychology and biology to manipulate us, habituating consumers to processed food and destroying our health in the process. An infuriating look at the severely underregulated food industry and required reading for understanding why American life expectancy is declining. Recommended By Emily B., Powells.com

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt Sugar Fat, a powerful expos of how the processed food industry exploits our evolutionary instincts, the emotions we associate with food, and legal loopholes in the name of profit over public health.

Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that processed food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? Motivated by these questions, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss began searching for answers, to find the true peril in our food.

In Hooked, Moss explores the science of addiction and uncovers what the scientific and medical communities — as well as food manufacturers — already know, which is that food can, in some cases, be even more addictive than alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. Our bodies are hard-wired for sweets, so food manufacturers have deployed fifty-six types of sugar to add to their products, creating in us the expectation that everything should be cloying; we've evolved to prefer convenient meals, so three-fourths of the calories we get from groceries come from ready-to-eat foods. Moss goes on to show how the processed food industry has not only tried to deny this troubling discovery, but exploit it to its advantage. For instance, in a response to recent dieting trends, food manufacturers have simply turned junk food into junk diets, filling grocery stores with "diet" foods that are hardly distinguishable from the products that got us into trouble in the first place. With more people unable to make dieting work for them, manufacturers are now claiming to add ingredients that can effortlessly cure our compulsive eating habits.

A gripping account of the legal battles, insidious marketing campaigns, and cutting-edge food science that have brought us to our current public health crisis, Hooked lays out all that the food industry is doing to exploit and deepen our addictions, and shows us what we can do so that we can once again seize control.

"Michael Moss delivers again with a deep, well-written investigation into food addiction and mass food production. With so many companies competing for our attention, dollars, and stomachs, it's more important than ever to educate ourselves about food and arm ourselves against efforts to get us hooked. This is a very important read for anyone who cares about their health." Sylvia Tara, author of The Secret Life of Fat

"No one has done more to reveal the intentional and underhanded ways in which food companies manipulate our desires and eating habits than Michael Moss. In Hooked, he shows how these ongoing crimes must be challenged and stopped. A must-read for anyone who cares about food, general well-being, and justice." Mark Bittman, author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk

"The processed food industry has managed to avoid being lumped in with Big Tobacco — which is why Michael Moss's new book is so important. Hooked shows how food manufacturers have taken advantage of our habits, our biology, our psychological quirks, and our ignorance to transform foods into addictive substances. He takes us into laboratories and courtrooms, kitchens and legislatures--and shows us how we can win our freedom back." Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

Michael Moss is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times, a keynote speaker, and an occasional guest on shows like CBS This Morning, The Dr. Oz Show CNN's The Lead, All Things Considered, and The Daily Show.