Summary of Michael Moss's Hooked

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Michael Moss's Hooked in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Moss uses the latest research on addiction to uncover what the scientific and medical communities—as well as food manufacturers—already know: that food, in some cases, is even more addictive than alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Our bodies are hardwired for sweets, so food giants have developed 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 fast, convenient meals, hence our modern-day preference for ready-to-eat foods. Moss goes on to show how the processed food industry—including major companies like Nestlé, Mars, and Kellogg’s—has tried not only to evade this troubling discovery about the addictiveness of food but to actually exploit it. For instance, in 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. As obesity rates continue to climb, manufacturers are now claiming to add ingredients that can effortlessly cure our compulsive eating habits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638155249

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights from Prologue

#1

Over the last four decades, salt, sugar, and fat have enabled the food industry to engineer goods that are extremely appealing. Brilliant marketing strategies manipulated our emotions, convincing us to eat even though we weren’t hungry.

#2

Given what we’ve discovered about other drugs and behaviors, we need to study and explore the true danger of food and see if addiction is the right way to think about our problems with nutrition.

#3

For a substance to be considered addictive, we don’t all have to fall hard for it. There are heroin users who consume it casually, just as some people can eat just a handful of potato chips. Addiction is a spectrum.

#4

We don’t need the harsh chemicals contained in drugs to become addicted to anything. Our brain has its own mixture of chemicals, dopamine in particular, which are expertly engineered to get us to behave compulsively.

#5

The speed at which drugs reach the brain is