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Brainwashed: Wie die Lebensmittelindustrie unser Glücksempfinden verändert, mit Werbung unsere Bedürfnisse manipuliert – und wie wir uns dagegen wehren können
Während der Recherche für seinen Bestseller Die bittere Wahrheit über Zucker machte Robert Lustig eine alarmierende Entdeckung: Unser Streben nach Glück wird von Abhängigkeit, Sucht und Depressionen gestört – eine kulturelle Entwicklung, die unumkehrbar scheint.
In Brainwashed befasst sich der Bestsellerautor mit unserem hormongesteuerten Empfinden von Glück und zeigt, wie diese biochemischen Prozesse aktiv von außen beeinflusst werden können – eine Methode, die sich vor allem die großen Lebensmittelkonzerne zunutze machen. Mit gezielter Werbung manipulieren sie unsere Bedürfnisse und beeinflussen unser Empfinden von Glück.
Die entscheidenden Botenstoffe für unser Glücksempfinden sind Dopamin und Serotonin. Nur wenn beide im richtigen Verhältnis stehen, sind wir ausbalanciert und wirklich glücklich. Dopamin steht für Belohnung. Schüttet unser Gehirn zu viel davon aus, führt das zu einer Abhängigkeit – ein gutes Beispiel für diese Art der Abhängigkeit ist Zucker. Serotonin hingegen signalisiert uns, dass wir zufrieden sind und genug haben, ein Mangel versursacht häufig Depressionen.
Stress, Hektik, ständige Erreichbarkeit und vor allem der Überfluss an Konsumgütern führen zu einem Dopaminüberschuss und somit zu einem Ungleichgewicht beider Botenstoffe. In der Folge verlernen wir glücklich zu sein. Mit ihrem perfiden Marketing hat die Lebensmittelindustrie einen großen Teil dazu beigetragen und uns in eine endlose Spirale aus ständigem Verlangen und schneller Befriedigung durch Konsum hineingezogen.
In diesem Buch erklärt Robert Lustig auf kluge und prägnante Weise die Wissenschaft hinter dieser Gehirnwäsche und bietet Lösungen, wie wir uns gegen den manipulativen Einfluss der Industrie wehren können und wieder zurück auf den richtigen Weg zum Glück finden.
In Brainwashed befasst sich der Bestsellerautor mit unserem hormongesteuerten Empfinden von Glück und zeigt, wie diese biochemischen Prozesse aktiv von außen beeinflusst werden können – eine Methode, die sich vor allem die großen Lebensmittelkonzerne zunutze machen. Mit gezielter Werbung manipulieren sie unsere Bedürfnisse und beeinflussen unser Empfinden von Glück.
Die entscheidenden Botenstoffe für unser Glücksempfinden sind Dopamin und Serotonin. Nur wenn beide im richtigen Verhältnis stehen, sind wir ausbalanciert und wirklich glücklich. Dopamin steht für Belohnung. Schüttet unser Gehirn zu viel davon aus, führt das zu einer Abhängigkeit – ein gutes Beispiel für diese Art der Abhängigkeit ist Zucker. Serotonin hingegen signalisiert uns, dass wir zufrieden sind und genug haben, ein Mangel versursacht häufig Depressionen.
Stress, Hektik, ständige Erreichbarkeit und vor allem der Überfluss an Konsumgütern führen zu einem Dopaminüberschuss und somit zu einem Ungleichgewicht beider Botenstoffe. In der Folge verlernen wir glücklich zu sein. Mit ihrem perfiden Marketing hat die Lebensmittelindustrie einen großen Teil dazu beigetragen und uns in eine endlose Spirale aus ständigem Verlangen und schneller Befriedigung durch Konsum hineingezogen.
In diesem Buch erklärt Robert Lustig auf kluge und prägnante Weise die Wissenschaft hinter dieser Gehirnwäsche und bietet Lösungen, wie wir uns gegen den manipulativen Einfluss der Industrie wehren können und wieder zurück auf den richtigen Weg zum Glück finden.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2017
1090 people are currently reading
8688 people want to read
About the author
Robert H. Lustig
24 books486 followersRobert H. Lustig, M.D., is an internationally renowned pediatric endocrinologist who has spent the past sixteen yers treating childhood obesity and studying the effects of sugar on the central nervous system, metabolism, and disease. He is the director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital; a member of the UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment; as well as a member of the Obesity Task Force of the Endocrine Society.
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March 26, 2022
This review written by a doctor, not me.
=====
I had the opportunity to review Dr. Lustig’s book and interview him before it was published. He is perhaps best known for his brilliant research into sugar and obesity. His previous book, “Fat Chance:” [which i read] was a New York Times Best Seller. Lustig is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies.
His motivation for writing the book began 30 years ago, while still a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Rockefeller University.
There, he learned about the interaction between dopamine and serotonin in the brain. At the time, only basic correlational data existed, but there appeared to be a very specific interaction going on between these two neurochemicals.
The book discusses how many try to bolster their happiness through certain food choices [also drugs, alcohol and technology], but this actually does not work, and Lustig provides compelling arguments that the foods [and other items] you crave drive up dopamine and drive down serotonin. Rather, it’s experiences that make you happy. People can make you happy. You can make yourself happy. In his book, Lustig outlines a number of different strategies to become happier. Ultimately, the goal is [to increase] your serotonin,” he says. There are four ways to boost your serotonin, and they’re all free. They’re also things your grandmother likely told you to do. First and foremost is making human connections.
Social media generate dopamine, associated with pleasure, and hence can drive addiction. The main problem is that when dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down. So, online communication is actually a major causative factor of unhappiness. Lustig also elaborates on how companies — both food manufacturers and electronics companies — capitalize on the biology of dopamine versus serotonin to get us addicted to their products.
It’s important to realize that the dopamine (or reward-generating) pathway is the same no matter what your source of pleasure is. It can be a substance, such as nicotine, alcohol, heroin or junk food; or it can be behavior, such as internet surfing, shopping or pornography. The problem, in a nutshell, is that dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and in excess is neurotoxic. When dopamine is released, and the neuron on the other side accepts the signal, it can damage that neuron. Over time, excitatory neurotransmitters can cause cell death. To protect itself from damage, the postsynaptic neuron employs a self-protective mechanism — it downregulates its receptors.
By having fewer receptors, the dopamine cannot do as much damage. So, each time you get a “hit” or rush of dopamine, the number of receptors decrease. As a result, you need increasingly larger doses or “hits” to get the same rush. Eventually, you end up with tolerance, a state where even a large dose produces no effect. Once the neurons start to actually die off, you’re a full-blown addict. Serotonin, on the other hand, is not an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it acts on the serotonin-1a receptor (the “contentment” receptor), no damage occurs. Hence, happiness does not lead to addictive behavior. Keep in mind that dopamine downregulates serotonin, so it’s basically impossible to achieve happiness (related to serotonin) through pleasure-seeking behavior (related to dopamine).
One of the cheapest pleasures that stimulates dopamine is sugar. Many reach for sweet junk food when they feel down, thinking it’ll help them feel better, but neurochemical science reveals this simply cannot happen. Add the stress hormone cortisol to the mix, which downregulates the serotonin-1a receptor, and you have a recipe for both addiction and depression. That’s what we’re seeing throughout all of civilized society, not just in America, but around the world. There are three other ways, besides connecting, that boost serotonin and happiness. The remaining three of the four C’s are:
1. Contribute: Meaning the act of contributing to something greater than yourself; making a contribution to society. “You can get happiness and contentment from your job, but there are certain criteria that have to be met,” Lustig says. “Most people, unfortunately, have a boss who is not contributing to their happiness. The workplace is not usually the best place to achieve meaningful contentment.”
2. Cope: Lack of sleep, insufficient exercise and multitasking are all causes of unhappiness. Sleep is extremely important for healthy serotonin production. Here, avoiding exposure to electronic screens is important, as blue light inhibits melatonin production, thereby making sleep more elusive. Electronics will also disrupt your sleep and deteriorate your health by exposing you to unnecessary microwaves, discussed in this recent article on depression.
3. Cook: If you cook, you’re likely going to increase your tryptophan, reduce your refined sugar intake, and increase your omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) and fiber. Overall, this will result in improved gut health, which has tremendous impact on your mood and mental health.
How do you boost systemic tryptophan? One of the keys is to eat real food, and to make sure you include high-tryptophan foods, the highest of which is egg whites. You also need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is a component of every cell in your body. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat found in brain tissue is DHA.
The problem, of course, is that when we took the fat out of the food, we took ALL the fat out of the food. It’s been a real chore to get the medical cognoscenti to turn around on this. I do want to do a shout out to the American Heart Association, because they have now debunked their long-standing cholesterol-fat hypothesis. They now recognize that saturated fat was not the demon they made it out to be, and that there are seven classes of fats, and that you actually have to consume omega-3s. You have to consume monounsaturated fats. In fact, you do have to consume some saturated fat because it’s a major component of membranes.
Processed fructose, mostly in the form of corn syrup, has become a major contributor to the $3 trillion health care budget in the United States, and there’s clear data linking sugar consumption to de novo lipogenesis — a disease process associated with fat accumulation in the liver, causing insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome and associated diseases. That includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.
In the past, people had a much better understanding of happiness and pleasure. Lustig’s book describes how these terms have been purposely conflated and confused by businesses and governments because it helped sales. To turn the trends of addiction around, you have to understand the difference between the two.
So, what’s the difference between pleasure and happiness? There are seven differences: Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal. Pleasure is short-term; happiness is long-term. Pleasure is usually achieved alone; happiness is usually achieved in social groupings. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whereas there is no such thing as being addicted to happiness. Finally, pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin."
Excellent interview with the author....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKkUt...
=====
I had the opportunity to review Dr. Lustig’s book and interview him before it was published. He is perhaps best known for his brilliant research into sugar and obesity. His previous book, “Fat Chance:” [which i read] was a New York Times Best Seller. Lustig is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies.
His motivation for writing the book began 30 years ago, while still a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Rockefeller University.
There, he learned about the interaction between dopamine and serotonin in the brain. At the time, only basic correlational data existed, but there appeared to be a very specific interaction going on between these two neurochemicals.
The book discusses how many try to bolster their happiness through certain food choices [also drugs, alcohol and technology], but this actually does not work, and Lustig provides compelling arguments that the foods [and other items] you crave drive up dopamine and drive down serotonin. Rather, it’s experiences that make you happy. People can make you happy. You can make yourself happy. In his book, Lustig outlines a number of different strategies to become happier. Ultimately, the goal is [to increase] your serotonin,” he says. There are four ways to boost your serotonin, and they’re all free. They’re also things your grandmother likely told you to do. First and foremost is making human connections.
Social media generate dopamine, associated with pleasure, and hence can drive addiction. The main problem is that when dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down. So, online communication is actually a major causative factor of unhappiness. Lustig also elaborates on how companies — both food manufacturers and electronics companies — capitalize on the biology of dopamine versus serotonin to get us addicted to their products.
It’s important to realize that the dopamine (or reward-generating) pathway is the same no matter what your source of pleasure is. It can be a substance, such as nicotine, alcohol, heroin or junk food; or it can be behavior, such as internet surfing, shopping or pornography. The problem, in a nutshell, is that dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and in excess is neurotoxic. When dopamine is released, and the neuron on the other side accepts the signal, it can damage that neuron. Over time, excitatory neurotransmitters can cause cell death. To protect itself from damage, the postsynaptic neuron employs a self-protective mechanism — it downregulates its receptors.
By having fewer receptors, the dopamine cannot do as much damage. So, each time you get a “hit” or rush of dopamine, the number of receptors decrease. As a result, you need increasingly larger doses or “hits” to get the same rush. Eventually, you end up with tolerance, a state where even a large dose produces no effect. Once the neurons start to actually die off, you’re a full-blown addict. Serotonin, on the other hand, is not an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it acts on the serotonin-1a receptor (the “contentment” receptor), no damage occurs. Hence, happiness does not lead to addictive behavior. Keep in mind that dopamine downregulates serotonin, so it’s basically impossible to achieve happiness (related to serotonin) through pleasure-seeking behavior (related to dopamine).
One of the cheapest pleasures that stimulates dopamine is sugar. Many reach for sweet junk food when they feel down, thinking it’ll help them feel better, but neurochemical science reveals this simply cannot happen. Add the stress hormone cortisol to the mix, which downregulates the serotonin-1a receptor, and you have a recipe for both addiction and depression. That’s what we’re seeing throughout all of civilized society, not just in America, but around the world. There are three other ways, besides connecting, that boost serotonin and happiness. The remaining three of the four C’s are:
1. Contribute: Meaning the act of contributing to something greater than yourself; making a contribution to society. “You can get happiness and contentment from your job, but there are certain criteria that have to be met,” Lustig says. “Most people, unfortunately, have a boss who is not contributing to their happiness. The workplace is not usually the best place to achieve meaningful contentment.”
2. Cope: Lack of sleep, insufficient exercise and multitasking are all causes of unhappiness. Sleep is extremely important for healthy serotonin production. Here, avoiding exposure to electronic screens is important, as blue light inhibits melatonin production, thereby making sleep more elusive. Electronics will also disrupt your sleep and deteriorate your health by exposing you to unnecessary microwaves, discussed in this recent article on depression.
3. Cook: If you cook, you’re likely going to increase your tryptophan, reduce your refined sugar intake, and increase your omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) and fiber. Overall, this will result in improved gut health, which has tremendous impact on your mood and mental health.
How do you boost systemic tryptophan? One of the keys is to eat real food, and to make sure you include high-tryptophan foods, the highest of which is egg whites. You also need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is a component of every cell in your body. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat found in brain tissue is DHA.
The problem, of course, is that when we took the fat out of the food, we took ALL the fat out of the food. It’s been a real chore to get the medical cognoscenti to turn around on this. I do want to do a shout out to the American Heart Association, because they have now debunked their long-standing cholesterol-fat hypothesis. They now recognize that saturated fat was not the demon they made it out to be, and that there are seven classes of fats, and that you actually have to consume omega-3s. You have to consume monounsaturated fats. In fact, you do have to consume some saturated fat because it’s a major component of membranes.
Processed fructose, mostly in the form of corn syrup, has become a major contributor to the $3 trillion health care budget in the United States, and there’s clear data linking sugar consumption to de novo lipogenesis — a disease process associated with fat accumulation in the liver, causing insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome and associated diseases. That includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.
In the past, people had a much better understanding of happiness and pleasure. Lustig’s book describes how these terms have been purposely conflated and confused by businesses and governments because it helped sales. To turn the trends of addiction around, you have to understand the difference between the two.
So, what’s the difference between pleasure and happiness? There are seven differences: Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal. Pleasure is short-term; happiness is long-term. Pleasure is usually achieved alone; happiness is usually achieved in social groupings. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whereas there is no such thing as being addicted to happiness. Finally, pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin."
Excellent interview with the author....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKkUt...
December 14, 2017
3 ½ stars
You will be forgiven if you misunderstand the title. Had a friend not explained the content to me beforehand I would never have picked this up.
The book is really a medical look at the difference between desire vs happiness, between dopamine vs serotonin. The bulk of the book spends its time showing the difference between these two hormones and how it can influence our behaviour. I found it absolutely fascinating.
Most people picture addiction as a junkie that shoots up with a dirty needle. But addiction takes on many forms. Gambling, shopping, sex and even social media addiction is something that can sneak up on an unsuspecting victim.
It also touched on the medical community reassessing previously banned substances such as LSD, now exploring the benefits of this drug to end stage cancer patients.
Had this book stayed on the path of medical research/breakthroughs I would have given it 5 stars with no hesitation. But the latter part of the book dipped into politics, conspiracy theories and corporate America. I agree with the fact that the biggest boogieman SUGAR is something that corporate America has a role in perpetuating but some of the claims he makes are a little hard to swallow.
The ending was reminiscent of self-help books and while the author has good advice I enjoyed the first half of the book more.
I am undecided between 3 and 4 stars but I still think this is a book worth reading, whether it’s for knowledge on how our hormones can rule our behaviour, or to understand the influence of the food industry on individuals, it’s a well written (mostly) science based narrative.
You will be forgiven if you misunderstand the title. Had a friend not explained the content to me beforehand I would never have picked this up.
The book is really a medical look at the difference between desire vs happiness, between dopamine vs serotonin. The bulk of the book spends its time showing the difference between these two hormones and how it can influence our behaviour. I found it absolutely fascinating.
Most people picture addiction as a junkie that shoots up with a dirty needle. But addiction takes on many forms. Gambling, shopping, sex and even social media addiction is something that can sneak up on an unsuspecting victim.
It also touched on the medical community reassessing previously banned substances such as LSD, now exploring the benefits of this drug to end stage cancer patients.
Had this book stayed on the path of medical research/breakthroughs I would have given it 5 stars with no hesitation. But the latter part of the book dipped into politics, conspiracy theories and corporate America. I agree with the fact that the biggest boogieman SUGAR is something that corporate America has a role in perpetuating but some of the claims he makes are a little hard to swallow.
The ending was reminiscent of self-help books and while the author has good advice I enjoyed the first half of the book more.
I am undecided between 3 and 4 stars but I still think this is a book worth reading, whether it’s for knowledge on how our hormones can rule our behaviour, or to understand the influence of the food industry on individuals, it’s a well written (mostly) science based narrative.
September 16, 2017
The Hacking of the American Mind has important information about how we are getting unhappier and sicker thanks to several factors that are addicting us to bad things and encouraging to value things that don’t make us happy. It also has advice that can help us change and control those addictions and do things more likely to make us happy. It reads like a self-help book and has some of the breathlessness of that genre, but the book is full of real science and valuable information.
Robert Lustig is a physician alarmed by the rise of metabolic diseases and the increasing obesity among his pediatric patients. He wrote Fat Chance, another book focusing on sugar and obesity. He has the expertise and has done the research and explains the biochemical process clearly with simple metaphors.
His main thesis is that we have conflated pleasure with happiness, but they are very different. Pleasure is transitory and is associated with dopamine while happiness is long-lasting and associated with serotonin. When we seek happiness by pursuing pleasure, we are seeking dopamine which leads to addiction, stress, anxiety, and illness.
There are many bad actors. Sugar manufacturers who buy off scientists, an allegation supported by 5 of 6 sugar-paid studies clearing sugar of any implication in obesity while independent studies find the opposite in 10 of 12 studies. Pharmaceuticals claimed oral opioids were non-addictive and pressured legislators to require doctors question patients about pain in order to sell more pain meds, addicting millions in the process and creating a crisis that is swamping our society.
Lustig sometimes goes too far, though, classifying as conspiratorial what is merely legal lobbying and organizing. There are people who are simply wrong, but their organizing and advocating their wrongness is not a conspiracy, it’s organizing and lobbying for wrong things. When the sugar industry lies, that’s a conspiracy. When it lobbies, that’s democracy. Yes, we need campaign finance reform and the power of corporations is overweening and dangerous. Citizens United is a destructive decision based on other bad decisions. However, it’s a mistake to assume that the people advocating wrong policy are knowing bad actors. They can be sincerely wrong.
Lustig gets into his own bad faith when he writes about social security, ObamaCare, and malpractice insurance. He’s a doctor and that obviously influences his perception. He talks about malpractice as though $69 million dollar malpractice awards are common. The average award is $500,000. Only a small percentage who suffer from a medical mistake ever sue and most suits fail, only 20% succeed and even when they get huge awards, judges almost always reduce the award to something more “reasonable.’ I tried to find the $69 million dollar award and found that in the entire state of Washington over the course of a year, the awards totaled $69 million. And of course, the awards are always appealed and almost always reduced by the judges to significantly smaller amounts. Take the infamous $3 million dollar McDonald’s coffee lawsuit. She only sued for $200k, but the jury awarded an additional big punitive award which immediately reduced to $480k and even that was appealed, so she settled for something less, perhaps the average $500K. The point is, Lustig said malpractice suits were being awarded $69 million “a pop” – so egregiously false that I lost trust in his authority and honesty.
This book has much useful information and his advice for freeing ourselves from addiction is useful and good. When Lustig writes outside his field, he’s unreliable, though. He actually insinuates that government did little to curb smoking because it killed people before they could draw on Social Security. That kind of conspiratorial mindset is too much for me. There is a difference between being wrong and being evil and Lustig seems to think people cannot be honestly wrong.
He has the self-help writer’s style of writing, breathless and dramatic. It’s not a style that appeals to me. He sees a way out and, of course, it comes in the self-help industry form of mnemonic: The Four C’s, connect, contribute, cope, and cook. Yes! These are good things. However, as someone who thinks the self-help industry is full of dangerous hucksters and grifters, I would prefer someone writing about how we are misled and manipulated to leave the forms of the self-help genre in the dustbin where they belong.
I received a copy of The Hacking of the American Mind from the publisher through a drawing at Shelf Awareness.
The Hacking of the American Mind at Penguin Random House
Robert Lustig faculty page
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Robert Lustig is a physician alarmed by the rise of metabolic diseases and the increasing obesity among his pediatric patients. He wrote Fat Chance, another book focusing on sugar and obesity. He has the expertise and has done the research and explains the biochemical process clearly with simple metaphors.
His main thesis is that we have conflated pleasure with happiness, but they are very different. Pleasure is transitory and is associated with dopamine while happiness is long-lasting and associated with serotonin. When we seek happiness by pursuing pleasure, we are seeking dopamine which leads to addiction, stress, anxiety, and illness.
There are many bad actors. Sugar manufacturers who buy off scientists, an allegation supported by 5 of 6 sugar-paid studies clearing sugar of any implication in obesity while independent studies find the opposite in 10 of 12 studies. Pharmaceuticals claimed oral opioids were non-addictive and pressured legislators to require doctors question patients about pain in order to sell more pain meds, addicting millions in the process and creating a crisis that is swamping our society.
Lustig sometimes goes too far, though, classifying as conspiratorial what is merely legal lobbying and organizing. There are people who are simply wrong, but their organizing and advocating their wrongness is not a conspiracy, it’s organizing and lobbying for wrong things. When the sugar industry lies, that’s a conspiracy. When it lobbies, that’s democracy. Yes, we need campaign finance reform and the power of corporations is overweening and dangerous. Citizens United is a destructive decision based on other bad decisions. However, it’s a mistake to assume that the people advocating wrong policy are knowing bad actors. They can be sincerely wrong.
Lustig gets into his own bad faith when he writes about social security, ObamaCare, and malpractice insurance. He’s a doctor and that obviously influences his perception. He talks about malpractice as though $69 million dollar malpractice awards are common. The average award is $500,000. Only a small percentage who suffer from a medical mistake ever sue and most suits fail, only 20% succeed and even when they get huge awards, judges almost always reduce the award to something more “reasonable.’ I tried to find the $69 million dollar award and found that in the entire state of Washington over the course of a year, the awards totaled $69 million. And of course, the awards are always appealed and almost always reduced by the judges to significantly smaller amounts. Take the infamous $3 million dollar McDonald’s coffee lawsuit. She only sued for $200k, but the jury awarded an additional big punitive award which immediately reduced to $480k and even that was appealed, so she settled for something less, perhaps the average $500K. The point is, Lustig said malpractice suits were being awarded $69 million “a pop” – so egregiously false that I lost trust in his authority and honesty.
This book has much useful information and his advice for freeing ourselves from addiction is useful and good. When Lustig writes outside his field, he’s unreliable, though. He actually insinuates that government did little to curb smoking because it killed people before they could draw on Social Security. That kind of conspiratorial mindset is too much for me. There is a difference between being wrong and being evil and Lustig seems to think people cannot be honestly wrong.
He has the self-help writer’s style of writing, breathless and dramatic. It’s not a style that appeals to me. He sees a way out and, of course, it comes in the self-help industry form of mnemonic: The Four C’s, connect, contribute, cope, and cook. Yes! These are good things. However, as someone who thinks the self-help industry is full of dangerous hucksters and grifters, I would prefer someone writing about how we are misled and manipulated to leave the forms of the self-help genre in the dustbin where they belong.
I received a copy of The Hacking of the American Mind from the publisher through a drawing at Shelf Awareness.
The Hacking of the American Mind at Penguin Random House
Robert Lustig faculty page
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
November 12, 2024
It’s all in the title but the book lays it out for us in layman terms how neuromarketing practically turns us into frogs in boiling water. Dr. Lustig first gives a holistic view of how our health and happiness is hacked in disguise of easy access to so many fast and tasty options. Then in order to tamp down the dopamine and up the serotonin he offers solutions in four C’s: Connect, Contribute, Cope and Cook. I’m a horrible introvert with a sick sweet tooth, and my coping mechanism with uncomfortable truths is to fry a few more eggs followed by coffee and cake, so status is more like 4Fs for now. Gotta connect more neurons on this so there is a fat chance I’ll read his other books and learn more bitter truths. From frying pans to deadpans in no time. Hope it’s not too late for me.
December 22, 2017
I first came across Dr. Robert Lustig when he gave a video presentation called 'The White Poison" at UCSF a few years back. It was at times a little over the top of my head since I'm not in the medical profession, but it was enough to make me realize just how BAD sugar is. Naturally, 'white poison' is the term he used to describe sugar. I have always had a love-hate relationship with sugar, but finally, after much discipline, and trying to form new habits day in and day out, I have been able to drastically cut down my consumption of sugar in the last few years.
But I still bothered to read the book because it goes into the biology of our brains and how our brains get hooked by things that are not so good for us and lead to behavioral changes, some more dangerous than others. The science of brain chemistry has come a long way and has allowed doctors like Dr. Lustig to really examine how dopamine and serotonin levels, whether too much or too little of them, affect our whole lives, and how their levels are affected by addictive substances. Sugar is one of them.
Yes, yes, we've heard the argument (sugar is bad for you) time and time again, but this argument cannot be pounded home enough. And, no, the book is not just about sugar. It is also about technology (social media, smartphone, who is not hijacked by these things nowadays?), drugs (prescription ones and those obtained illegally, e.g. opioids), alcohol, tobacco, and alternative forms of anxiety-relief (think Marijuana which has been legalized in several states), and the subliminal messages that we are already subject to on a daily basis that make us believe we need to buy this or that, feed ourselves this and that, or take a drug to feel or look better, younger, and happier, or whatever goal we are in pursuit of.
Having lived in parts of Europe and Asia and seeing how people eat and drink there, I still hold the view that many other parts of the world hold a healthier view towards food. But enter the American diet and its practices to the rest of the industrialized world, and we've got more health problems in those societies where people have severed their relationship with their country's own way of eating (think McDonald's in France which has led to the rise of obesity there).
Heck, I almost think the title of the book should be changed to: "The Hacking of the Industrialized World Mind".
The four C's he mentions towards the end of the book are also good advice but also common sense (but again, a little reminding never hurts): cook (cook more of your own meals), community (connect with others), cope (practice stress relief like meditation, do yoga, or whatever allows you to deal with your own stress better) and contribute (charitable giving of your money and/or time).
Alcohol, tobacco, drugs and technology cost a lot more than sugar, however.
Sugar is cheap.
Sugar is legal.
Sugar is addictive.
Sugar is everywhere.
Dr. Lustig is part of an organization that is trying to get the government to officially strip sugar of its Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) status. Apparently, he has been on this quest (or I should say, uphill battle) for many years already. To me, he is like the Angel who is trying to beat down the Devil of Sugar. I don't think anything or anyone will stop him. He will continue to fight the battle as long as he's around because he is so passionate about educating the American public (and as I alluded to earlier, the rest of the world should start paying attention also).
On an anecdote, there are several brand new stores going up in my local shopping centers that just sell, well...candies, cookies, lollipops, you know, anything that has sugar in it. In fact, I think one of the stores might even be called something as silly as 'Sugarland' or the equivalent.
The next time you frequent your local mall and see a brand new store going up that SELLS NOTHING BUT SUGAR, think of Dr. Lustig (and also read this book, please), and all that he's trying to do to turn the tide on this madness. I know I do.
But I still bothered to read the book because it goes into the biology of our brains and how our brains get hooked by things that are not so good for us and lead to behavioral changes, some more dangerous than others. The science of brain chemistry has come a long way and has allowed doctors like Dr. Lustig to really examine how dopamine and serotonin levels, whether too much or too little of them, affect our whole lives, and how their levels are affected by addictive substances. Sugar is one of them.
Yes, yes, we've heard the argument (sugar is bad for you) time and time again, but this argument cannot be pounded home enough. And, no, the book is not just about sugar. It is also about technology (social media, smartphone, who is not hijacked by these things nowadays?), drugs (prescription ones and those obtained illegally, e.g. opioids), alcohol, tobacco, and alternative forms of anxiety-relief (think Marijuana which has been legalized in several states), and the subliminal messages that we are already subject to on a daily basis that make us believe we need to buy this or that, feed ourselves this and that, or take a drug to feel or look better, younger, and happier, or whatever goal we are in pursuit of.
Having lived in parts of Europe and Asia and seeing how people eat and drink there, I still hold the view that many other parts of the world hold a healthier view towards food. But enter the American diet and its practices to the rest of the industrialized world, and we've got more health problems in those societies where people have severed their relationship with their country's own way of eating (think McDonald's in France which has led to the rise of obesity there).
Heck, I almost think the title of the book should be changed to: "The Hacking of the Industrialized World Mind".
The four C's he mentions towards the end of the book are also good advice but also common sense (but again, a little reminding never hurts): cook (cook more of your own meals), community (connect with others), cope (practice stress relief like meditation, do yoga, or whatever allows you to deal with your own stress better) and contribute (charitable giving of your money and/or time).
Alcohol, tobacco, drugs and technology cost a lot more than sugar, however.
Sugar is cheap.
Sugar is legal.
Sugar is addictive.
Sugar is everywhere.
Dr. Lustig is part of an organization that is trying to get the government to officially strip sugar of its Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) status. Apparently, he has been on this quest (or I should say, uphill battle) for many years already. To me, he is like the Angel who is trying to beat down the Devil of Sugar. I don't think anything or anyone will stop him. He will continue to fight the battle as long as he's around because he is so passionate about educating the American public (and as I alluded to earlier, the rest of the world should start paying attention also).
On an anecdote, there are several brand new stores going up in my local shopping centers that just sell, well...candies, cookies, lollipops, you know, anything that has sugar in it. In fact, I think one of the stores might even be called something as silly as 'Sugarland' or the equivalent.
The next time you frequent your local mall and see a brand new store going up that SELLS NOTHING BUT SUGAR, think of Dr. Lustig (and also read this book, please), and all that he's trying to do to turn the tide on this madness. I know I do.
April 4, 2019
I'm giving this five stars for being thought provoking and three stars for the writing and editing. I think the book would have benefited from an editor. There seemed to be a lot of repetition and although the style was accessible, occasionally it seemed a bit TOO informal.
Now on to the content. I haven't read Lustig's seminal book on sugar, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, but I've heard him interviewed. About a quarter of this book concerns diet, also, with a big emphasis on sugar, so if you haven't read the other book it seems you'll get a good dose--no pun intended--of his argument here. But he also covers other addictive substances and behaviors. Most impressive (or frightening or out-there, depending on your point of view) is how he ties together the behind-the-scenes activities of government, corporations, and lobbyists to illustrate how we became a nation (and a world) of depressed, obese people suffering from a host of metabolic diseases.
The book makes an important distinction between pleasure and happiness, both at a neurological and experiential level. I found this helpful.
The scholarship is strong; the last 30 percent of the book is references. And I also liked the fact that despite letting us know that the problem is more than an individual one, he did offer some things we can undertake as individuals to combat the seemingly inexorable tide of empty food and entertainment looking to hijack our brains and prevent us from finding contentment.
Now on to the content. I haven't read Lustig's seminal book on sugar, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, but I've heard him interviewed. About a quarter of this book concerns diet, also, with a big emphasis on sugar, so if you haven't read the other book it seems you'll get a good dose--no pun intended--of his argument here. But he also covers other addictive substances and behaviors. Most impressive (or frightening or out-there, depending on your point of view) is how he ties together the behind-the-scenes activities of government, corporations, and lobbyists to illustrate how we became a nation (and a world) of depressed, obese people suffering from a host of metabolic diseases.
The book makes an important distinction between pleasure and happiness, both at a neurological and experiential level. I found this helpful.
The scholarship is strong; the last 30 percent of the book is references. And I also liked the fact that despite letting us know that the problem is more than an individual one, he did offer some things we can undertake as individuals to combat the seemingly inexorable tide of empty food and entertainment looking to hijack our brains and prevent us from finding contentment.
October 15, 2017
Disclaimer: My copy of The Hacking of the American Mind is an "uncorrected advance proof" expected to be a little short of the book's final published form. This is evident in that every chapter contains at least a few instances of grammatical confusion in desperate need of an editor which I'm presuming will be mostly cleaned up by the book's final publication (so I mostly ignore them here). That said...
Lustig takes the reader on an informative but relatively informal tour of building-block concepts that, together, effectively illustrate the insidious reality behind the arguably tin-foil-hat sound of the book's title. His tone throughout is casually conversational (not overly technical) in explaining and illustrating the difference between short-term pleasure/reward and longer-term happiness/contentment, the two distinct neurotransmitter-mechanisms (dopamine and seratonin) that drive human brains' experience of each, various ways in which these mechanisms can be altered to the point of driving addictive or depressive behaviors, and various growing factors in our modern daily lives that do just that.
The casual conversational tone throughout make for much smoother reading and digestion than many other drier or more academic books, kept even more light (and even entertaining) by his frequent sprinkling of small comic flippancies and pop references, even though not all of these latter did successfully relate to the current point. I.e., very readable. That's not to say that he didn't include lots of citations of articles and scientific studies to back up his statements; he did, but he included most of them in the form of bibliographic notes tucked in the end of the book rather than bogging down the immediate reading. Good choice, IMO.
The one confusion I had that stuck out pretty strongly was throughout chapter three, discussing the basics of the "reward pathway" mechanism. He clearly explains the difference between the experiences of motivation/desire (dopamine) and consummation/pleasure (EOPs). Then, through the rest of the chapter, he consistently refers to the set as "reward"—a word which, to me, means roughly the same as "consummation" or "pleasure", the latter part of the sequence—without clear indication that by "reward", he means "the full reward pathway" which includes the initial motivation/desire portion. When I finally (belated) realized this, the whole chapter suddenly made a *lot* more sense, but for awhile there... Then again, maybe that was just me. (And maybe the final publication will clarify it better.)
The whole journey pays off in the end as he successfully connects our neurotransmitter mechanisms to modern-day stimuli (hyperconnectivity, food, etc.) to today's growing commonality of human metabolic disorders (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). He caps it off with a handful of fundamental suggestions for heading off this path and rediscovering happiness. Those suggestions are relatively simple but potentially paradigm-shifting for many of us living in the modern world, but their consideration, and the lessons leading up to their suggestion, are very much worth the read.
BTW, for anyone at all interested, I'd suggest Joel Salatin's "Folks, This Ain't Normal" as a complementing counterpoint. Salatin, coming from the different direction of the increasing historical abnormality of the modern world's production and consumption of food, overlaps many of the same realizations as Lustig, and the two books serve to illustrate different facets of the same overall problem plaguing human health and happiness today.
Lustig takes the reader on an informative but relatively informal tour of building-block concepts that, together, effectively illustrate the insidious reality behind the arguably tin-foil-hat sound of the book's title. His tone throughout is casually conversational (not overly technical) in explaining and illustrating the difference between short-term pleasure/reward and longer-term happiness/contentment, the two distinct neurotransmitter-mechanisms (dopamine and seratonin) that drive human brains' experience of each, various ways in which these mechanisms can be altered to the point of driving addictive or depressive behaviors, and various growing factors in our modern daily lives that do just that.
The casual conversational tone throughout make for much smoother reading and digestion than many other drier or more academic books, kept even more light (and even entertaining) by his frequent sprinkling of small comic flippancies and pop references, even though not all of these latter did successfully relate to the current point. I.e., very readable. That's not to say that he didn't include lots of citations of articles and scientific studies to back up his statements; he did, but he included most of them in the form of bibliographic notes tucked in the end of the book rather than bogging down the immediate reading. Good choice, IMO.
The one confusion I had that stuck out pretty strongly was throughout chapter three, discussing the basics of the "reward pathway" mechanism. He clearly explains the difference between the experiences of motivation/desire (dopamine) and consummation/pleasure (EOPs). Then, through the rest of the chapter, he consistently refers to the set as "reward"—a word which, to me, means roughly the same as "consummation" or "pleasure", the latter part of the sequence—without clear indication that by "reward", he means "the full reward pathway" which includes the initial motivation/desire portion. When I finally (belated) realized this, the whole chapter suddenly made a *lot* more sense, but for awhile there... Then again, maybe that was just me. (And maybe the final publication will clarify it better.)
The whole journey pays off in the end as he successfully connects our neurotransmitter mechanisms to modern-day stimuli (hyperconnectivity, food, etc.) to today's growing commonality of human metabolic disorders (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). He caps it off with a handful of fundamental suggestions for heading off this path and rediscovering happiness. Those suggestions are relatively simple but potentially paradigm-shifting for many of us living in the modern world, but their consideration, and the lessons leading up to their suggestion, are very much worth the read.
BTW, for anyone at all interested, I'd suggest Joel Salatin's "Folks, This Ain't Normal" as a complementing counterpoint. Salatin, coming from the different direction of the increasing historical abnormality of the modern world's production and consumption of food, overlaps many of the same realizations as Lustig, and the two books serve to illustrate different facets of the same overall problem plaguing human health and happiness today.
January 22, 2020
What a weird title for a book whose first half is an excellent exposition of very important and critical biochemical pathways in the brains of all human beings, including people of USA. Dr. Lustig explains the mesolimbic pathway (reward pathway) and serotonin pathways, as well as how one of the major hormones related to stress, cortisol, interacts with dopamine and serotonin. In layman's terms, he manages to clearly explain the fundamental biochemical differences between short-term pleasure that's addictive and driven by constant reward-seeking behaviors, and the long-term contentment that is one of the pillars of a healthy and happy life. Moreover, he also shows striking examples of how major economical forces create an illusion of freedom of choice even though, by design, most of what you can choose in terms of food, drink and behavior is almost dictated by the majority of options being addictive, targeted to induce constant reward-seeking behavior, because that's where the profits lie.
I'm not in USA, and I'm just an ordinary observer of the American mind, but looking at things from Europe in general, and having personally witnessed addictive eating behaviors, and how they are affected by what I eat, and how they interact with my stress levels, as well as my sleep patterns, I can do nothing but congratulate Lustig's message.
I give 5 starts for the first half of the book. As for the remaining half, nothing's wrong in general but I found a bit repetitive and some parts hand-wavy and watered down.
If you care for your health and as well as the health of your beloved ones, if you think you're surrounded with super easy and cheap access to junk food and countless options of having "fun", this book will make you understand the structures you're operating in by connecting the most fundamental parts of your brain to your behavior. But it's not a self-help book, so don't expect some magic solution. If it pushes you to be a little more critical towards your environment and how economic forces shape your eating habits, and how stress and sleep interact with these, affecting your health, then I think we can consider this book a success. One thing for sure, the way things are, you'll have to very consciously struggle for yourself and your beloved ones because sometimes simple changes are the most difficult ones to manage when major forces and your environment are designed to work against your health.
I'm not in USA, and I'm just an ordinary observer of the American mind, but looking at things from Europe in general, and having personally witnessed addictive eating behaviors, and how they are affected by what I eat, and how they interact with my stress levels, as well as my sleep patterns, I can do nothing but congratulate Lustig's message.
I give 5 starts for the first half of the book. As for the remaining half, nothing's wrong in general but I found a bit repetitive and some parts hand-wavy and watered down.
If you care for your health and as well as the health of your beloved ones, if you think you're surrounded with super easy and cheap access to junk food and countless options of having "fun", this book will make you understand the structures you're operating in by connecting the most fundamental parts of your brain to your behavior. But it's not a self-help book, so don't expect some magic solution. If it pushes you to be a little more critical towards your environment and how economic forces shape your eating habits, and how stress and sleep interact with these, affecting your health, then I think we can consider this book a success. One thing for sure, the way things are, you'll have to very consciously struggle for yourself and your beloved ones because sometimes simple changes are the most difficult ones to manage when major forces and your environment are designed to work against your health.
April 18, 2022
The genres this book touches wasn't what the title led me to believe. I was thinking Nonfiction/Politics...but no....it was Nonfiction/Health & Science. So Health & Science for the win (because I like that more than politics.)
Is happiness pleasure? Or is pleasure happiness? I liked the way the author delved into this one. I liked the view point of the author and the science that he incorporated into this. He took a light approach in explaining addiction and how hormones are activated and to what end. What drives us? How does the body work and what about next time?
This was intriguing, so 4 stars.
Is happiness pleasure? Or is pleasure happiness? I liked the way the author delved into this one. I liked the view point of the author and the science that he incorporated into this. He took a light approach in explaining addiction and how hormones are activated and to what end. What drives us? How does the body work and what about next time?
This was intriguing, so 4 stars.
December 2, 2017
Excellent information but its rough going with this one. I found myself reading a paragraph over and over to get the meaning. (its probably me)
December 6, 2019
I'm going to do what another reviewer did and copy a review that was on Amazon which surgically breaks down the content of this book. You'll understand once you read it why I copied and pasted.
This is one of the deepest books I've ever read. It is dense. It is not an easy read. You have to take your time with it.
Crazily enough, it's still entertaining. Despite what a mental giant Robert H. Lustig is, he's still able to relate with normal people.
Once you're done reading however you will be a different person.
The man is intellectually honest. He tells you what studies are not completely proven. He constantly brings up correlation does not necessarily imply causation. He fact checks himself frequently. He admits what science does and doesn't know. He's thorough. He cares.
It makes you trust him. Which is great, because what he does tell you with near certainty is so important.
You'll understand exactly why you make yourself miserable with social media, processed food, and so many other vices once you're through with this book. You'll understand it so intimately you will find it difficult to ever engage in certain behaviors again. For months I've had Robert H. Lustig's voice in my head, where he's telling me exactly what I'm doing to my body with my choices.
More importantly, he tells you how to feel better without medication. His advice works. It should be taught in all schools. Family planning clinics should have free courses on this information.
To learn more, read this excellent review:
"I had the opportunity to review Dr. Lustig’s book and interview him before it was published. He is perhaps best known for his brilliant research into sugar and obesity. His previous book, “Fat Chance:” [which i read] was a New York Times Best Seller. Lustig is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies.
His motivation for “writing the book began 30 years ago, while still a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Rockefeller University."
There, he learned about the interaction between dopamine and serotonin in the brain. At the time, only basic correlational data existed, but there appeared to be a very specific interaction going on between these two neurochemicals.
The book discusses how many try to bolster their happiness through certain food choices [also drugs, alcohol and technology], but this actually does not work, and Lustig provides compelling arguments that the foods [and other items] you crave drive up dopamine and drive down serotonin. Rather, it’s experiences that make you happy. People can make you happy. You can make yourself happy. In his book, Lustig outlines a number of different strategies to become happier. Ultimately, the goal is [to increase] your serotonin,” he says. There are four ways to boost your serotonin, and they’re all free. They’re also things your grandmother likely told you to do. First and foremost is making human connections.
Social media generate dopamine, associated with pleasure, and hence can drive addiction. The main problem is that when dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down. So, online communication is actually a major causative factor of unhappiness. Lustig also elaborates on how companies — both food manufacturers and electronics companies — capitalize on the biology of dopamine versus serotonin to get us addicted to their products.
It’s important to realize that the dopamine (or reward-generating) pathway is the same no matter what your source of pleasure is. It can be a substance, such as nicotine, alcohol, heroin or junk food; or it can be behavior, such as internet surfing, shopping or pornography. The problem, in a nutshell, is that dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and in excess is neurotoxic. When dopamine is released, and the neuron on the other side accepts the signal, it can damage that neuron. Over time, excitatory neurotransmitters can cause cell death. To protect itself from damage, the postsynaptic neuron employs a self-protective mechanism — it downregulates its receptors.
By having fewer receptors, the dopamine cannot do as much damage. So, each time you get a “hit” or rush of dopamine, the number of receptors decrease. As a result, you need increasingly larger doses or “hits” to get the same rush. Eventually, you end up with tolerance, a state where even a large dose produces no effect. Once the neurons start to actually die off, you’re a full-blown addict. Serotonin, on the other hand, is not an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it acts on the serotonin-1a receptor (the “contentment” receptor), no damage occurs. Hence, happiness does not lead to addictive behavior. Keep in mind that dopamine downregulates serotonin, so it’s basically impossible to achieve happiness (related to serotonin) through pleasure-seeking behavior (related to dopamine).
One of the cheapest pleasures that stimulates dopamine is sugar. Many reach for sweet junk food when they feel down, thinking it’ll help them feel better, but neurochemical science reveals this simply cannot happen. Add the stress hormone cortisol to the mix, which downregulates the serotonin-1a receptor, and you have a recipe for both addiction and depression. That’s what we’re seeing throughout all of civilized society, not just in America, but around the world. There are three other ways, besides connecting, that boost serotonin and happiness. The remaining three of the four C’s are:
1. Contribute: Meaning the act of contributing to something greater than yourself; making a contribution to society. “You can get happiness and contentment from your job, but there are certain criteria that have to be met,” Lustig says. “Most people, unfortunately, have a boss who is not contributing to their happiness. The workplace is not usually the best place to achieve meaningful contentment.”
2. Cope: Lack of sleep, insufficient exercise and multitasking are all causes of unhappiness. Sleep is extremely important for healthy serotonin production. Here, avoiding exposure to electronic screens is important, as blue light inhibits melatonin production, thereby making sleep more elusive. Electronics will also disrupt your sleep and deteriorate your health by exposing you to unnecessary microwaves, discussed in this recent article on depression.
3. Cook: If you cook, you’re likely going to increase your tryptophan, reduce your refined sugar intake, and increase your omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) and fiber. Overall, this will result in improved gut health, which has tremendous impact on your mood and mental health.
How do you boost systemic tryptophan? One of the keys is to eat real food, and to make sure you include high-tryptophan foods, the highest of which is egg whites. You also need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is a component of every cell in your body. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat found in brain tissue is DHA.
The problem, of course, is that when we took the fat out of the food, we took ALL the fat out of the food. It’s been a real chore to get the medical cognoscenti to turn around on this. I do want to do a shout out to the American Heart Association, because they have now debunked their long-standing cholesterol-fat hypothesis. They now recognize that saturated fat was not the demon they made it out to be, and that there are seven classes of fats, and that you actually have to consume omega-3s. You have to consume monounsaturated fats. In fact, you do have to consume some saturated fat because it’s a major component of membranes.
Processed fructose, mostly in the form of corn syrup, has become a major contributor to the $3 trillion health care budget in the United States, and there’s clear data linking sugar consumption to de novo lipogenesis — a disease process associated with fat accumulation in the liver, causing insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome and associated diseases. That includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.
In the past, people had a much better understanding of happiness and pleasure. Lustig’s book describes how these terms have been purposely conflated and confused by businesses and governments because it helped sales. To turn the trends of addiction around, you have to understand the difference between the two.
So, what’s the difference between pleasure and happiness? There are seven differences: Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal. Pleasure is short-term; happiness is long-term. Pleasure is usually achieved alone; happiness is usually achieved in social groupings. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whereas there is no such thing as being addicted to happiness. Finally, pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin."
This is one of the deepest books I've ever read. It is dense. It is not an easy read. You have to take your time with it.
Crazily enough, it's still entertaining. Despite what a mental giant Robert H. Lustig is, he's still able to relate with normal people.
Once you're done reading however you will be a different person.
The man is intellectually honest. He tells you what studies are not completely proven. He constantly brings up correlation does not necessarily imply causation. He fact checks himself frequently. He admits what science does and doesn't know. He's thorough. He cares.
It makes you trust him. Which is great, because what he does tell you with near certainty is so important.
You'll understand exactly why you make yourself miserable with social media, processed food, and so many other vices once you're through with this book. You'll understand it so intimately you will find it difficult to ever engage in certain behaviors again. For months I've had Robert H. Lustig's voice in my head, where he's telling me exactly what I'm doing to my body with my choices.
More importantly, he tells you how to feel better without medication. His advice works. It should be taught in all schools. Family planning clinics should have free courses on this information.
To learn more, read this excellent review:
"I had the opportunity to review Dr. Lustig’s book and interview him before it was published. He is perhaps best known for his brilliant research into sugar and obesity. His previous book, “Fat Chance:” [which i read] was a New York Times Best Seller. Lustig is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies.
His motivation for “writing the book began 30 years ago, while still a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Rockefeller University."
There, he learned about the interaction between dopamine and serotonin in the brain. At the time, only basic correlational data existed, but there appeared to be a very specific interaction going on between these two neurochemicals.
The book discusses how many try to bolster their happiness through certain food choices [also drugs, alcohol and technology], but this actually does not work, and Lustig provides compelling arguments that the foods [and other items] you crave drive up dopamine and drive down serotonin. Rather, it’s experiences that make you happy. People can make you happy. You can make yourself happy. In his book, Lustig outlines a number of different strategies to become happier. Ultimately, the goal is [to increase] your serotonin,” he says. There are four ways to boost your serotonin, and they’re all free. They’re also things your grandmother likely told you to do. First and foremost is making human connections.
Social media generate dopamine, associated with pleasure, and hence can drive addiction. The main problem is that when dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down. So, online communication is actually a major causative factor of unhappiness. Lustig also elaborates on how companies — both food manufacturers and electronics companies — capitalize on the biology of dopamine versus serotonin to get us addicted to their products.
It’s important to realize that the dopamine (or reward-generating) pathway is the same no matter what your source of pleasure is. It can be a substance, such as nicotine, alcohol, heroin or junk food; or it can be behavior, such as internet surfing, shopping or pornography. The problem, in a nutshell, is that dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and in excess is neurotoxic. When dopamine is released, and the neuron on the other side accepts the signal, it can damage that neuron. Over time, excitatory neurotransmitters can cause cell death. To protect itself from damage, the postsynaptic neuron employs a self-protective mechanism — it downregulates its receptors.
By having fewer receptors, the dopamine cannot do as much damage. So, each time you get a “hit” or rush of dopamine, the number of receptors decrease. As a result, you need increasingly larger doses or “hits” to get the same rush. Eventually, you end up with tolerance, a state where even a large dose produces no effect. Once the neurons start to actually die off, you’re a full-blown addict. Serotonin, on the other hand, is not an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it acts on the serotonin-1a receptor (the “contentment” receptor), no damage occurs. Hence, happiness does not lead to addictive behavior. Keep in mind that dopamine downregulates serotonin, so it’s basically impossible to achieve happiness (related to serotonin) through pleasure-seeking behavior (related to dopamine).
One of the cheapest pleasures that stimulates dopamine is sugar. Many reach for sweet junk food when they feel down, thinking it’ll help them feel better, but neurochemical science reveals this simply cannot happen. Add the stress hormone cortisol to the mix, which downregulates the serotonin-1a receptor, and you have a recipe for both addiction and depression. That’s what we’re seeing throughout all of civilized society, not just in America, but around the world. There are three other ways, besides connecting, that boost serotonin and happiness. The remaining three of the four C’s are:
1. Contribute: Meaning the act of contributing to something greater than yourself; making a contribution to society. “You can get happiness and contentment from your job, but there are certain criteria that have to be met,” Lustig says. “Most people, unfortunately, have a boss who is not contributing to their happiness. The workplace is not usually the best place to achieve meaningful contentment.”
2. Cope: Lack of sleep, insufficient exercise and multitasking are all causes of unhappiness. Sleep is extremely important for healthy serotonin production. Here, avoiding exposure to electronic screens is important, as blue light inhibits melatonin production, thereby making sleep more elusive. Electronics will also disrupt your sleep and deteriorate your health by exposing you to unnecessary microwaves, discussed in this recent article on depression.
3. Cook: If you cook, you’re likely going to increase your tryptophan, reduce your refined sugar intake, and increase your omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) and fiber. Overall, this will result in improved gut health, which has tremendous impact on your mood and mental health.
How do you boost systemic tryptophan? One of the keys is to eat real food, and to make sure you include high-tryptophan foods, the highest of which is egg whites. You also need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is a component of every cell in your body. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat found in brain tissue is DHA.
The problem, of course, is that when we took the fat out of the food, we took ALL the fat out of the food. It’s been a real chore to get the medical cognoscenti to turn around on this. I do want to do a shout out to the American Heart Association, because they have now debunked their long-standing cholesterol-fat hypothesis. They now recognize that saturated fat was not the demon they made it out to be, and that there are seven classes of fats, and that you actually have to consume omega-3s. You have to consume monounsaturated fats. In fact, you do have to consume some saturated fat because it’s a major component of membranes.
Processed fructose, mostly in the form of corn syrup, has become a major contributor to the $3 trillion health care budget in the United States, and there’s clear data linking sugar consumption to de novo lipogenesis — a disease process associated with fat accumulation in the liver, causing insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome and associated diseases. That includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.
In the past, people had a much better understanding of happiness and pleasure. Lustig’s book describes how these terms have been purposely conflated and confused by businesses and governments because it helped sales. To turn the trends of addiction around, you have to understand the difference between the two.
So, what’s the difference between pleasure and happiness? There are seven differences: Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal. Pleasure is short-term; happiness is long-term. Pleasure is usually achieved alone; happiness is usually achieved in social groupings. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whereas there is no such thing as being addicted to happiness. Finally, pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin."
June 20, 2018
_The Hacking of the American Mind_ is a provocative title, but it is accurate. There isn't a single external culprit, but a number that target a specific brain pathway. Dr. Lustig makes the point that it is a fight between dopamine and serotonin. In our instant gratification world the overdoses on sugar, dopamine wins. We, as a society, are lesser for it.
I'm a huge fan of Dr. Lustig. A doctor of mine in the Bay Area knew him professionally, which was really cool. He helps kids and parents figure out what is wrong with their health and how to fix it. In _Fat Chance_ there is a telling point made of the hopelessness of fixing the system (ie government messaging and public education). When he talked to Michelle Obama's nutritional expert about getting the government to come around to improving health, he was told that will never happen. The sugar, soda and junk food lobby has a lock on Congress. Anything that says less sugar and more veggies won't get the campaign dollars. It is up to each American to figure it all out on their own.
That frustration is felt throughout this book. Sugar is ruining us. It screws up our brains and our organs. It is toxic to our nervous system. Only once you accept that it is an addiction will you start your path to feeling better. I did and can tell you how it sucked through withdrawal, but I came out a much better person on the other side.
Here Dr. Lustig guides the reader through the reward pathways in the brain and how specific neurotransmitters affect our behavior. Essentially we are just the culmination of chemical reactions. He is a neuro researcher, an expert on metabolic diseases and has a law degree to help with policy. By walking you through how the brain uses dopamine and serotonin, he shows that by taking the long view you will be healthier. Think of dopamine as the dark side and serotonin as the good side of the Force. Dopamine is quicker, more seductive. But will lead you to ruin.
Some of what is in this book I already knew from others I've read. This is a great read for those that need a holistic point of view to improving your health. I did learn that high amounts of Omega-3's will help repair some of the damage to receptors in the brain for dopamine and serotonin. Lots of sugar, just like any addictive drug, will damage the receptor sites, eventually killing them. This results in less sites for dopamine to tag, which means that to get the same reward feeling you need more. Omega-3 will help keep alive the sites that are still active, helping your brain heal.
The hacking part in the title has to do with the targeting of the dopamine pathway by various companies. It could be Facebook or Coke. They hit the same reward pathway, just from different directions. Device addiction is just as real as sugar or caffeine addiction. Games & social sites all work to keep you looking for just one more hit. Until we, as a society, face up to the fact our creations are slowly killing us and do something, only a select few will be healthy.
I'm a huge fan of Dr. Lustig. A doctor of mine in the Bay Area knew him professionally, which was really cool. He helps kids and parents figure out what is wrong with their health and how to fix it. In _Fat Chance_ there is a telling point made of the hopelessness of fixing the system (ie government messaging and public education). When he talked to Michelle Obama's nutritional expert about getting the government to come around to improving health, he was told that will never happen. The sugar, soda and junk food lobby has a lock on Congress. Anything that says less sugar and more veggies won't get the campaign dollars. It is up to each American to figure it all out on their own.
That frustration is felt throughout this book. Sugar is ruining us. It screws up our brains and our organs. It is toxic to our nervous system. Only once you accept that it is an addiction will you start your path to feeling better. I did and can tell you how it sucked through withdrawal, but I came out a much better person on the other side.
Here Dr. Lustig guides the reader through the reward pathways in the brain and how specific neurotransmitters affect our behavior. Essentially we are just the culmination of chemical reactions. He is a neuro researcher, an expert on metabolic diseases and has a law degree to help with policy. By walking you through how the brain uses dopamine and serotonin, he shows that by taking the long view you will be healthier. Think of dopamine as the dark side and serotonin as the good side of the Force. Dopamine is quicker, more seductive. But will lead you to ruin.
Some of what is in this book I already knew from others I've read. This is a great read for those that need a holistic point of view to improving your health. I did learn that high amounts of Omega-3's will help repair some of the damage to receptors in the brain for dopamine and serotonin. Lots of sugar, just like any addictive drug, will damage the receptor sites, eventually killing them. This results in less sites for dopamine to tag, which means that to get the same reward feeling you need more. Omega-3 will help keep alive the sites that are still active, helping your brain heal.
The hacking part in the title has to do with the targeting of the dopamine pathway by various companies. It could be Facebook or Coke. They hit the same reward pathway, just from different directions. Device addiction is just as real as sugar or caffeine addiction. Games & social sites all work to keep you looking for just one more hit. Until we, as a society, face up to the fact our creations are slowly killing us and do something, only a select few will be healthy.
January 5, 2018
I decided to read this book after hearing an interview with the author. He was very articulate, passionate, and knowledgeable about the subject of the book. . . . And there is some good material in this book.
Lustig argues that the American food industry and government organizations have colluded in bringing about the current health crisis in the U.S. (and internationally as the Standard American Diet (SAD) has spread globally). Following up on earlier work, he names sugar as the main culprit leading to Metabolic Syndrome ("diseases characterized by energy overload of cells" -- e.g., heart disease, stroke, and diabetes (295)). A main division he attempts to make in the book is that between "happiness" and "pleasure," which he correlates to the difference between, respectively, seratonin and dopamine in the body. An over-emphasis on one (more commonly dopamine in the U.S.) will likely lead to a lack in the other, which, when coupled with an increase in cortisol (from stress) can result in depression or addiction.
His solution is summed up with four C-words, each taking one of the last four chapters of the book -- Connect, Contribute, Cope, and Cook. These have expected meanings ("Cope" might need a little explanation -- essentially, exercise, meditate, and get enough sleep; and "Cook" is a sort of umbrella for the others -- take time to prepare and consume real food for and with other people regularly).
What keeps this book from being one that can be recommended without reservation may be qualities that still allow it to be a good self-help book (not a favorite genre of mine). It's repetitive, simplistic, scattered, and too focused on being "cute." I don't know whether to blame the writing or editing, but there are so many places where sentences don't have any apparent connection to their surroundings that a reader who wants to make it through has to resort to surface skimming.
If you don't mind having to reach in and pull out anything of substance that you can glean (turning an occasional blind eye to questionable "research" claims (among sound ones)), this book could provide some food for thought, and maybe application.
Lustig argues that the American food industry and government organizations have colluded in bringing about the current health crisis in the U.S. (and internationally as the Standard American Diet (SAD) has spread globally). Following up on earlier work, he names sugar as the main culprit leading to Metabolic Syndrome ("diseases characterized by energy overload of cells" -- e.g., heart disease, stroke, and diabetes (295)). A main division he attempts to make in the book is that between "happiness" and "pleasure," which he correlates to the difference between, respectively, seratonin and dopamine in the body. An over-emphasis on one (more commonly dopamine in the U.S.) will likely lead to a lack in the other, which, when coupled with an increase in cortisol (from stress) can result in depression or addiction.
His solution is summed up with four C-words, each taking one of the last four chapters of the book -- Connect, Contribute, Cope, and Cook. These have expected meanings ("Cope" might need a little explanation -- essentially, exercise, meditate, and get enough sleep; and "Cook" is a sort of umbrella for the others -- take time to prepare and consume real food for and with other people regularly).
What keeps this book from being one that can be recommended without reservation may be qualities that still allow it to be a good self-help book (not a favorite genre of mine). It's repetitive, simplistic, scattered, and too focused on being "cute." I don't know whether to blame the writing or editing, but there are so many places where sentences don't have any apparent connection to their surroundings that a reader who wants to make it through has to resort to surface skimming.
If you don't mind having to reach in and pull out anything of substance that you can glean (turning an occasional blind eye to questionable "research" claims (among sound ones)), this book could provide some food for thought, and maybe application.
February 16, 2022
Don't judge this book by its title. It's a book that contemplates what happiness is and how to go about achieving it. Lustig pulls from different perspectives including biochemistry, nutrition and philosophy, and examines how corporations and government play a role in that ever-illusive pursuit of happiness. Lustig splits what was a blurry definition of happiness into two seperate camps defined by neuro chemistry. Perhaps somewhat of a oversimplification, but useful enough for the topic at hand: Dopamine controls the reward pathway and serotonin the contentment pathway. We may become dopamine dominant through abusing our dopamine system through too much pleasure from sugar & processed food, caffeine, sugar, nicotine, social media addiction, hard drug abuse, shopping, gambling, etc. The overuse of our dopaminergic system keeps from experiencing the better half of happiness: contentment, brought by our serotonin pathway. Feelings of joy, the feeling of having enough and not needing more. A sense of well-being. Lustig goes into a great depth that a simple summary cannot do its justice.
I'm always interested in the nutritional side of things, an very peculiar takeaway I found is a explanation for why recreational cannabis use has exploded in recent times. We have endocannabinoid receptors in the brain that have a roll in the serotonin pathway. THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis attaches to this receptor and gives us that temporary feeling of contentment, relaxation, and even the munchies. Lustig goes on to explain that our brains normally produce endogenous endocannabinoids that make us feel relaxed, at ease, and lowers anxiety. In order to create these cannabinoids endogenously we must have sufficient omega-3 (mainly DHA) fatty acids from our diet. Unfortunately most people today are extremely deficient in omega-3 from inadequate amounts of fatty fish and way too much linoleic acid intake (omega-6) from seed oils. We are dealing with a very serious nutritional deficiency problem at scale, and are self-medicating with a temporary fix (smoking cannabis). It's something to pay attention to as cannabis use continues to grow in legality and popularity amongst first world countries. If getting high isn't up your alley, big pharma (and the doctors that work with them) will happily prescribe you an SSRI which will inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, artificially causing you to feel the effects of serotonin longer and stronger. It's not dealing with the issue at hand (nutritional deficiencies or our modern over-stimulating environment) but simply a Band-Aid solution for the pathology.
Great book for understanding ourselves better, the dangers posed in our current environment and how we can go about dealing with them.
I'm always interested in the nutritional side of things, an very peculiar takeaway I found is a explanation for why recreational cannabis use has exploded in recent times. We have endocannabinoid receptors in the brain that have a roll in the serotonin pathway. THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis attaches to this receptor and gives us that temporary feeling of contentment, relaxation, and even the munchies. Lustig goes on to explain that our brains normally produce endogenous endocannabinoids that make us feel relaxed, at ease, and lowers anxiety. In order to create these cannabinoids endogenously we must have sufficient omega-3 (mainly DHA) fatty acids from our diet. Unfortunately most people today are extremely deficient in omega-3 from inadequate amounts of fatty fish and way too much linoleic acid intake (omega-6) from seed oils. We are dealing with a very serious nutritional deficiency problem at scale, and are self-medicating with a temporary fix (smoking cannabis). It's something to pay attention to as cannabis use continues to grow in legality and popularity amongst first world countries. If getting high isn't up your alley, big pharma (and the doctors that work with them) will happily prescribe you an SSRI which will inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, artificially causing you to feel the effects of serotonin longer and stronger. It's not dealing with the issue at hand (nutritional deficiencies or our modern over-stimulating environment) but simply a Band-Aid solution for the pathology.
Great book for understanding ourselves better, the dangers posed in our current environment and how we can go about dealing with them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2017
Finished my neuro-science ARC The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains. Much of the science, I'd heard about before, but Robert H. Lustig presents it in readable everyday language. Highly recommend this for folks who are addicted to "the other white powder" (a.k.a. sugar), caffeine, alcohol, or junk food. Lustig not only paints a clear picture of why your addicted, but what you can do about it.
December 21, 2018
This was interesting, but it's very neurochemistry based, and frankly I'm more interested in behavioural factors, which are what we can actually change. As such, it's a mechanistic approach. I wished this book had delved more into how corporations exploit neurobiology. I was left with some more understanding of how conditioned behaviours impact my neurotransmitters....but it seems like an analysis that leaves the solution with the individual, rather than delving into how corporations have been able to hijack our neurobiology to cash in; and what we could do---not just individually, but culturally---to reverse and challenge the way our brains are being 'hacked'.
October 20, 2025
'The Hacking of the American Mind' (might add 'body' to that title) is full of interesting information with lot to 'digest', but is sort of all over the place. As a primer on biochemistry in the body and brain it is an excellent resource. He explains the interplay between Dopamine, Serotonin, their receptors and various hormones most notably cortisol (the 'stress' hormone) which was all fascinating. The science of addiction is described focusing on the role of excess 'hits' of dopamine degrading (down regulates) the receptor neurons over time, hence the need for a bigger hits. Turns out sugar acts in some of the same ways as many addictive drugs and hence how our sugar-laden diet has created an epidemic of 'metabolic' syndrome illness. Sugar has become ubiquitous throughout our food system, to no one's surprise. He also explains various aspects of brain anatomy and associated neuroscience quite well. These are his areas of expertise and it shows. This part of the book is easily 4-stars.
But the book then veers off into politics (with various unsubstantiated claims), U.S. law (a huge section pinning the blame on one guy, Lewis Powell, for nearly all the problems with our legal system). I actually I agree that the Citizen United decision and other related cases have been detrimental to our Rebublic but there are nine justices not just one for a reason. There are also tow other branches of government with culpability but Powell seems to be an easier target. Finally, he launches the 'self-help' stuff which you can find almost anywhere and to such a degree that it detracts from the overall message, imho. At that point he just starts throwing thing at the wall, citing one study after another in various areas and hoping they stick. True they are mostly footnoted but often just magazine articles or single studies. If we have learned anything at the this point in history, it is that there are a LOT of bad studies for a slew of reasons, not the least of which is corporate 'capture'.
I certainly did not expect a treatise on whether happiness should actually be a 'right' or something that should be guaranteed to every person. An entire section is dedicated to explaining how the Founding Fathers should have done more to ensure the preeminence of 'happiness' struck me as almost ludicrous. Talk about a moving target! There might be 350 million versions of happiness this very minute. Some people actually think they are cats. Amazingly, and not without some truth the food industry is painted as the evil enemy, whereas big Pharma gets mostly a pass. There does not seem to be a drug that Dr. Lustig is not enthusiastic about, would not surprise me if he is paid off. Unfortunately, this book was written before the explosion of the latest Big Pharma solution to our obesity epidemic, the GLP-1 agonists. I'd be interested in his take on those. Overall will give this 2.5 stars rounded down--worth reading but the strong start is undone by all the flailing about which serves to obscure the most useful information.
But the book then veers off into politics (with various unsubstantiated claims), U.S. law (a huge section pinning the blame on one guy, Lewis Powell, for nearly all the problems with our legal system). I actually I agree that the Citizen United decision and other related cases have been detrimental to our Rebublic but there are nine justices not just one for a reason. There are also tow other branches of government with culpability but Powell seems to be an easier target. Finally, he launches the 'self-help' stuff which you can find almost anywhere and to such a degree that it detracts from the overall message, imho. At that point he just starts throwing thing at the wall, citing one study after another in various areas and hoping they stick. True they are mostly footnoted but often just magazine articles or single studies. If we have learned anything at the this point in history, it is that there are a LOT of bad studies for a slew of reasons, not the least of which is corporate 'capture'.
I certainly did not expect a treatise on whether happiness should actually be a 'right' or something that should be guaranteed to every person. An entire section is dedicated to explaining how the Founding Fathers should have done more to ensure the preeminence of 'happiness' struck me as almost ludicrous. Talk about a moving target! There might be 350 million versions of happiness this very minute. Some people actually think they are cats. Amazingly, and not without some truth the food industry is painted as the evil enemy, whereas big Pharma gets mostly a pass. There does not seem to be a drug that Dr. Lustig is not enthusiastic about, would not surprise me if he is paid off. Unfortunately, this book was written before the explosion of the latest Big Pharma solution to our obesity epidemic, the GLP-1 agonists. I'd be interested in his take on those. Overall will give this 2.5 stars rounded down--worth reading but the strong start is undone by all the flailing about which serves to obscure the most useful information.
June 4, 2021
Do you feel a little bit out of control of what you’re doing these days? I’m starting to feel that way. Like I used to blame myself when I spun into an Internet rabbit hole or endless game of email whack-a-mole. I blamed myself for that! After all, I did it. But then I read the fantastic "Irresistible" by Adam Alter last year and suddenly became wise to the fish hooks tech companies were planting in my brain. So now I live largely in Airplane Mode, my phone is in black and white, and, most importantly, I don't didn’t use it at all (since my wife hides it from me at my request) for at least half the summer. Now I find myself writing articles every other month about cell phone addiction. So it’s no wonder I picked up Robert Lustig’s book to feed my growing wariness of our screen-surrounded world. And he did not disappoint! Lustig drops the hammer on corporate America with his campaign to unmask the neurobiological manipulation that’s going on here. Did the book swerve a bit too deep into science? Did it come back to a few big targets over and over? For sure. But his thesis is pretty sound. Think of it this way. If pleasure is “this feels good, I want more” and happiness is “this feels good, I don’t need more” than he shows why we’ve tilted too deeply into pleasure… and maps a decent way out.
July 15, 2024
I prefer listening to podcasts with Dr Robert Lustig. There's invaluable information but I just found the book a bit hard to read and not quite as interesting as listening to him speak about these issues.
October 21, 2024
This book is about addiction - how we get addicted, why and how food is also addictive. However, the book covers more of dopamine, serotonin and other neurotransmitters rather than nutrition.
August 13, 2024
Lustig tries to educate the American masses. Will the people ever learn? Stay tuned...( My thoughts are they won't, unless we see actual government intervention on big corps, but we won't because politics is a shitty game where we are all pawns destined to be sacrificed to profit the 1%)
February 1, 2018
Dr. Robert Lustig has been warning us about added sugar in our diet and the fact that sugar is the culprit of the obesity epidemic and metabolic syndromes in the US and the rest of the world. I first learned of Dr. Lustig when I came across his lecture he gave at UCSF a few years ago titled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" (video) in which he used science to describe all the problems with sugar.
In this book, Dr. Lustig went further and explained the substance, food and behavioral addiction through science (in other words: how our brains are "hacked") and the ways we can defend ourselves. In a nutshell, it all comes down to the biochemistry in our brain and the different reward, contentment and stress-fear-memory pathways involving the two neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, and the hormone cortisol.
Before reading this book, I have already learned about the danger of addictive substance (think opioids, heroine), food (chocolate cake or anything with sugar) and behaviors (Facebook likes, WeChat moments, Instagram feeds). (I recommend reading a recent book Irresistible by Adam Alter if you are interested in this subject). However, this book goes into details the science behind such addictions, for example, how all these reward pathways relating to dopamine works and how the neuro receptors adjust the sensitivity leading to tolerance and which results in the body wanting more. We also learn about the difference between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is about reward while happiness is about containment.
Towards the end of the book, Dr. Lustig provides ways for us to get out of this and he calls this the 4 C's: Connect, Contribute, Cope and Cook. These are simple guidance but extremely useful.
In this world of constant stimulation and instant rewards, this book is useful in educating us to and helping understand how our bodies are responding to them and how we can be smarter to avoid these hacking.
A part of the book talks about how corporations, while trying to increase their profits, are taking advantage of these biochemical reactions in our bodies and inevitably hurting the society. This is a much deeper subject and Dr. Lustig is not offering any solution but to let the readers be aware of that. For example, I learned how, in the US, through Supreme Court and Congress, we are slowly giving the power to corporations to serve the corporate interest over the well-being of the people.
In this book, Dr. Lustig went further and explained the substance, food and behavioral addiction through science (in other words: how our brains are "hacked") and the ways we can defend ourselves. In a nutshell, it all comes down to the biochemistry in our brain and the different reward, contentment and stress-fear-memory pathways involving the two neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, and the hormone cortisol.
Before reading this book, I have already learned about the danger of addictive substance (think opioids, heroine), food (chocolate cake or anything with sugar) and behaviors (Facebook likes, WeChat moments, Instagram feeds). (I recommend reading a recent book Irresistible by Adam Alter if you are interested in this subject). However, this book goes into details the science behind such addictions, for example, how all these reward pathways relating to dopamine works and how the neuro receptors adjust the sensitivity leading to tolerance and which results in the body wanting more. We also learn about the difference between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is about reward while happiness is about containment.
Towards the end of the book, Dr. Lustig provides ways for us to get out of this and he calls this the 4 C's: Connect, Contribute, Cope and Cook. These are simple guidance but extremely useful.
In this world of constant stimulation and instant rewards, this book is useful in educating us to and helping understand how our bodies are responding to them and how we can be smarter to avoid these hacking.
A part of the book talks about how corporations, while trying to increase their profits, are taking advantage of these biochemical reactions in our bodies and inevitably hurting the society. This is a much deeper subject and Dr. Lustig is not offering any solution but to let the readers be aware of that. For example, I learned how, in the US, through Supreme Court and Congress, we are slowly giving the power to corporations to serve the corporate interest over the well-being of the people.
October 25, 2017
Dr. Lustig connects the dots from our current maladies in America (addiction, obesity, depression) to the powerful politics of big corporations, and the case he makes is air tight. Sure you already know you shouldn't eat too much sugar -- and you also know that the food industry uses added sugar for taste and shelf life. But the extent of their "pushing" is truly breathtaking and difficult to deny once you understand it. Avoiding sweets is not enough. Read the labels of all processed foods and you will find sugar listed under one of its many aliases. (Don't believe me? Try to find sugar-free spaghetti sauce).
What about addictions to technology? Dr. Lustig explains how addictions as diverse as Facebook and sugar are driven by the same reward--dopamine hits to the brain. So if you're on a low sugar diet, you aren't out of the addiction woods, because dopamine rewards from technology can be just as compelling and brain-frying as sugar or alcohol or cocaine.
And just when you are overwhelmed with the enormity of the connection between our American lifestyle and our constant search for the next hit of dopamine, comes the chapter that explains how a Corporate-friendly Supreme Court and government has been even more complicit with Corporations, and for much longer than any of us realized. The Citizens United decision and corn subsidies (read, high fructose corn syrup) are only the tip of the iceberg. (The decision to allow drug advertising on television is one that stands out as particularly egregious.)
Thank heaven the last section of the book is dedicated to some strategies to help the reader cope with our environment, and for that I am grateful. But this book has opened my eyes to the ways our modern American consumerism push addiction through sugar, shopping, stress and the politics of money. It didn't get this way overnight, and it will not change overnight, but information is power.
What about addictions to technology? Dr. Lustig explains how addictions as diverse as Facebook and sugar are driven by the same reward--dopamine hits to the brain. So if you're on a low sugar diet, you aren't out of the addiction woods, because dopamine rewards from technology can be just as compelling and brain-frying as sugar or alcohol or cocaine.
And just when you are overwhelmed with the enormity of the connection between our American lifestyle and our constant search for the next hit of dopamine, comes the chapter that explains how a Corporate-friendly Supreme Court and government has been even more complicit with Corporations, and for much longer than any of us realized. The Citizens United decision and corn subsidies (read, high fructose corn syrup) are only the tip of the iceberg. (The decision to allow drug advertising on television is one that stands out as particularly egregious.)
Thank heaven the last section of the book is dedicated to some strategies to help the reader cope with our environment, and for that I am grateful. But this book has opened my eyes to the ways our modern American consumerism push addiction through sugar, shopping, stress and the politics of money. It didn't get this way overnight, and it will not change overnight, but information is power.
April 25, 2023
Ok *breathe*... I enjoyed the last book I read by this author, but my major issue with this book is that what he first presents as national, corporate-driven concerns requiring immense government intervention ultimately apparently all boil down to individual solutions. I despair because obvious common sense such as 'just relax', 'get more sleep', 'put your phone down', 'eat better', etc. - you could find this in any article for free anywhere on the internet. What I was hoping to read was the author's thoughts on how society can be reshaped so these essential elements of a healthy, fulfilling life can actually be enjoyed by the majority of the population. Trust me, those people who can get more sleep are getting more sleep.
If you're writing a book on behavioural addiction, the single point of recommendation surely can't be 'just stop lol'. Instead of the single sentences dedicated to considering why depressed adolescents are disappearing into social media addiction and spiralling mental health, why not explore that further? What else is going on in their lives? What led to the need to check out online? Why was there no single mention of the stressors children experience in school from the age of 4 or even earlier? That's just one example of my frustrations, like, there's SO MUCH in this book and yet SO MUCH is missing.
I felt as though I was trying to look at a lovely bird through my binoculars but someone keeps trying to yank them away from the point of interest. This book just recycles the absolute obvious, and offers nothing new whatsoever.
If you're writing a book on behavioural addiction, the single point of recommendation surely can't be 'just stop lol'. Instead of the single sentences dedicated to considering why depressed adolescents are disappearing into social media addiction and spiralling mental health, why not explore that further? What else is going on in their lives? What led to the need to check out online? Why was there no single mention of the stressors children experience in school from the age of 4 or even earlier? That's just one example of my frustrations, like, there's SO MUCH in this book and yet SO MUCH is missing.
I felt as though I was trying to look at a lovely bird through my binoculars but someone keeps trying to yank them away from the point of interest. This book just recycles the absolute obvious, and offers nothing new whatsoever.
October 8, 2018
Picked this up as it was #1 on Neil Pasricha's September reading list. One of Neil's takeaways was to put your phone in black & white mode to reduce its influence and engagement, so I hoped the book would be packed with similar ideas.
I got about 60 pages in and couldn't handle Lustig's writing style. I felt that a lot of concepts were dumbed down into a single sentence with a bad simile or metaphor. Lustig deployed far too many pop culture references throughout the book which seems at odds with his title.
"It's not you, it's me" - I was not engaged. This is a pop science book, and I can't slog through it.
The thesis is interesting; exploring the difference between rewards & contentment. There is certainly good information in this book, and good conclusions. But it's not for me!
I got about 60 pages in and couldn't handle Lustig's writing style. I felt that a lot of concepts were dumbed down into a single sentence with a bad simile or metaphor. Lustig deployed far too many pop culture references throughout the book which seems at odds with his title.
"It's not you, it's me" - I was not engaged. This is a pop science book, and I can't slog through it.
The thesis is interesting; exploring the difference between rewards & contentment. There is certainly good information in this book, and good conclusions. But it's not for me!
October 8, 2022
So... the central metaphor presented at the beginning of the book is that the American mind is being hacked just like "Russia hacked the DNC servers." LOL. Anyone who dares do the research knows that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia hacked the DNC servers. The CEO of the corporation that supplied that analysis to the FBI (because the FBI could not get the servers for some reason) admitted under oath that they had no evidence not only that the Russian hacked the servers, but that ANYONE hacked the servers. The testimony was buried by Dem rep Adam Schiff for three years until it was FOIA'd. So if you want to read a book from an author whose mind has been hacked by the CIA and US state propaganda about the hacking of the American mind, this is it. If you don't want to waste your time, don't even think of reading this.
July 13, 2025
Valuable perspectives but it was really jarring to me how the author (clearly a very well established practicing neuroendocrinologist and research professor) would switch between 1. grounded science 2. reasonable opinions 3. complete clickbait millennial zingers without warning, often within the same paragraph. Maybe I'm just too used to academic writing in my biology.
I would recommend reading the introduction, where he sets out the problem, the biology in the first chapters for the dopamine and serotonin sections, and then Chapters 14 (how American corporations have made everyone addicted and depressed) and 15 (how that destroys the fiscal foundations of social welfare). Important reading for almost anyone.
I would recommend reading the introduction, where he sets out the problem, the biology in the first chapters for the dopamine and serotonin sections, and then Chapters 14 (how American corporations have made everyone addicted and depressed) and 15 (how that destroys the fiscal foundations of social welfare). Important reading for almost anyone.
October 26, 2018
Good core ideas (spoiler alert: to save ourselves, we need to spend more quality time building relationships in person; take care of our bodies and minds through sleep, exercise and meditation; contribute to a greater cause; and eat less processed food, especially sugar). Useful distinction of the dopamine (quick reward, addiction, habituation) and serotonin (long-term contentment/meaningful happiness) systems and how most patterns of stress and consumer culture in our lives hijack the former and challenge/deplete the latter. The writing style is unbearable because of constant inane jokes/references so I skimmed it. Really wish it were a well-written long-form article instead of a book.
December 25, 2020
Very brain science heavy but digestible nonetheless. Lustig revisits a lot of his concepts to reinforce key points and, notably for the non-doctors in the crowd, the brain science/brain chemistry.
I wish there was more of a detailed hypothesis about *how* different corporations are hacking our brains, rather than just mentions of the science with some loose correlations and the disclaimer, "correlation is not causation."
Oh, and sugar is bad. Really bad.
I wish there was more of a detailed hypothesis about *how* different corporations are hacking our brains, rather than just mentions of the science with some loose correlations and the disclaimer, "correlation is not causation."
Oh, and sugar is bad. Really bad.
July 1, 2017
Well written and very informational. The author presents the material in an entertaining and lively manner. His use of humor helps to keep things on a good level also. This book is a must read for those interested in taking care of their health. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.
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