Salt, Sugar & Fat

May 18, 2012

Interview with Dr. David Kessler, author of the book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

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Mike Carruthers:
To understand why people overeat you have to realize that our brains are wired to focus our attention on the most salient, most important stimulus in our environment.

Dr. David Kessler:
You know for some people it can be alcohol, it could be tobacco but for many people it's fat, sugar, and salt.
 

Dr. David Kessler

Dr. David Kessler, Former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and author of the book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, says recent research proves that fat, sugar, and salt are hot stimuli for the brain.

I didn't understand (even as a physician, even as someone who was in charge of regulating food for the nation) one basic fact; fat, sugar, and salt stimulate you - they stimulate you, they stimulate your brain to come back and to eat more. I thought I was eating to satiate myself, to fill me up; I was eating primarily for stimulation.

Fat, sugar, and salt have been around for a long time but only recently has obesity become an epidemic.

We used to eat (certainly when I was growing up) in meals - we had some structure. If you look at the French they haven't gotten obese but they eat highly palatable foods. They've eaten in meals. They would never think of walking down the street eating with food. What have we done in this country? We've taken fat, sugar, and salt and we've put it on every corner,. We say it's socially acceptable to eat anytime - we've made food into entertainment. So we're eating fat, sugar, and salt that stimulate us 24/7 not just during meals, not just occasionally.