Hooked (2022) review: Moss proves the thing you thought impossible

Remember people saying that you can be addicted to sugar? How did you respond? Did you agree with them, or did you laugh it off? After reading Hooked, I think food addiction should be part of any weight loss discussion because your grandmother was right: food is made to be addictive.

In Hooked (Random House, 2022), Michael Moss tries to answer why some people are addicted to food and what the food industry is doing to keep people eating the things they love so much.

The book begins by discussing the decline of the tobacco industry following countless lawsuits which tried to put the blame on cigarette manufacturers and the fact that Philip Morris (one of the world’s largest cigarette manufacturers) consistently adhered to the claim that cigarettes and nicotine are not addictive — only to distance themselves from this claim to save face when the public’s opinion on smoking had changed.

Then, we learn about a lawyer suing McDonald’s for making their foods addictive too. The large amounts of sugar, salt, and fat made the fast foods prepared by McDonald’s irresistible for a young girl who skipped meals at home to eat all three meals at McDonald’s.

The book contains very insightful facts on food, addictions, and the power of sugar, while also discussing the tricks the food industries are using to go with the changing views on health. Western society went from women cooking healthy meals at home to quick and convenient pre-packaged meals that only needed to be heated and fast food restaurants burgeoning at nearly every highway exit and street corner in major cities, and this development can clearly be seen in our behaviour towards food.

The most striking fact presented in this book is the fact that food manufacturers hopped on the diet bandwagon as a solution to their declining sales: Kraft bought WeightWatchers (now known simply as WW) and made millions in profits because people felt the need to diet. They made the pre-packaged WW foods more enticing, more addictive, and more delicious and sold millions of them.

The new trend in food is also thoroughly discussed: moving away from sugars and “real” flavours to artificial sugars and natural (read artificial) flavours. These flavours might be low in calories (artificial sweeteners like sucralose, acesulfame-k, and stevia have 0 calories when compared to cane sugar), but they have a bad influence on our gut bacteria and our brain, as both expect something sugary but end up waiting for Godot.

Moss has a pleasant writing style, and his holistic approach towards researching food addictions and additives makes this book worth reading. Sometimes it feels too long-winded, and some parts would have been clear with half the number of words, but this thorough exploration proves that he’s not making assertions based on his own ideas and gut feelings. He visits food manufacturers and their factories, talks to people from the FDA who make the legislature, and looks at contemporary research on food and health.

In all honesty, every other diet book ought to be shelved, and Hooked should be the first stop on any person’s weight loss journey. Good education on what food does and why some foods are more addictive than others will benefit the weight loser (is that a word?) more than going Keto or subscribing to every weight loss YouTuber available on the internet. And when you’re done, How not to Diet should be next on your reading list.

Get your copy of Hooked by Michael Moss on Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3GIaI8H

Level: CEFR C2 — advanced reader