by Krishanna
24. June 2009 08:40
From the NY Times: How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains
As head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. David A. Kessler
served two presidents and battled Congress and Big Tobacco. But the
Harvard-educated pediatrician discovered he was helpless against the
forces of a chocolate chip cookie.
In an experiment of one, Dr.
Kessler tested his willpower by buying two gooey chocolate chip cookies
that he didn’t plan to eat. At home, he found himself staring at the
cookies, and even distracted by memories of the chocolate chunks and
doughy peaks as he left the room. He left the house, and the cookies
remained uneaten. Feeling triumphant, he stopped for coffee, saw
cookies on the counter and gobbled one down.
“Why does that
chocolate chip cookie have such power over me?” Dr. Kessler asked in an
interview. “Is it the cookie, the representation of the cookie in my
brain? I spent seven years trying to figure out the answer.”
The result of Dr. Kessler’s quest is a fascinating new book, “The
End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite”
(Rodale).
During his time at the Food and Drug Administration,
Dr. Kessler maintained a high profile, streamlining the agency, pushing
for faster approval of drugs and overseeing the creation of the
standardized
nutrition
label on food packaging. But Dr. Kessler is perhaps best known for his
efforts to investigate and regulate the tobacco industry, and his
accusation that cigarette makers intentionally manipulated
nicotine content to make their products more addictive.
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