The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains QUOTES

1 " If you don’t know how to cook, you’re hostage to the food industry for the rest of your life and unwittingly will pass this on to your children. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

2 " Marketing, media, and technology have capitalized on subverting our brain physiology to their advantage in order to veer us away from the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of pleasure, which for them of course equals the pursuit of profit. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

3 " But fear not, there does appear to be one dietary item that can mitigate the damage that sugar does to the brain and promote the biochemistry and the processes that can predispose us to happiness. And perhaps not surprisingly its presence in the diet correlates positively with tryptophan and negatively with sugar. What is this magic chemical? It’s omega-3 fatty acids, of all things. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

4 " Fig. 10-1: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The same factors that increase dopamine (technology, lack of sleep, drugs, and bad diet) also decrease serotonin. Furthermore, stress drives dopamine release and also decreases the serotonin-1a receptor reducing serotonin signaling. Addiction results from dopamine receptor down-regulation coupled with excessive stress. Depression results from reduced serotonin transmission from the same precipitating factors, also coupled with excess stress. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

5 " Apparently, the draw of the screen is just too much for most people; the cell phone is like a slot machine. With every ding, a variable reward, either good or bad, is in store for the user—the ultimate dopamine rush. As Robert Kolker wrote in the New York Times Magazine, “Distraction is the devil in your ear—not always the result of an attention deficit, but borne of our own desires.” We are distracted because we want to be. Because it’s fun and obfuscates real life. Why else would they sell so many smartphones? My wife says that I’m addicted to my e-mail, and I know looking at it doesn’t improve my mood. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

6 " The most price elastic food item is eggs, at 0.32. This means if the price of eggs goes up 1 percent, consumption goes down 0.68 percent. Eggs are the highest-quality protein there is. Eggs have all the nutrients you need. They are literally the world’s most perfect food. And people won’t buy them if the price increases. Why? Because there’s nothing in an egg that has hedonic properties. Tryptophan (the precursor of serotonin) sure, but can it drive dopamine? Conversely, the most price inelastic consumable is fast food, at 0.81. This means if the price of fast food goes up 1 percent, consumption only goes down 0.19 percent. And the second most? Soft drinks, at 0.79. These two food items exert the most hedonic effects (due to sugar and caffeine) and happen to be the ones that people will consume no matter what. And of course they are the most addictive. So how can society turn an addicted, depressed, drug-addled, corpulent, and metabolically ill populace around? "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

7 " In the first fifteen chapters of this book, I hope I have made a cogent case that: (1) reward is not contentment, and pleasure is not happiness; (2) reward is dopamine, and contentment is serotonin; (3) chronic excess reward interferes with contentment; (4) business has conflated pleasure with happiness consciously and with clear-cut intent, specifically to get you to buy its junk or engage in hedonic behaviors favorable to industry; (5) government has passed legislation to make it easier to buy that junk or make easier access to engage in those behaviors to drive profit and GDP, and the Supreme Court has justified and supported these practices; and (6) buying that junk or engaging in those behaviors long-term and without thought can leave you and society fat, sick, stupid, broke, addicted, depressed, and most decidedly unhappy. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

8 " One study showed that omega-3s were equivalent in effect to Prozac in treating depression, and the combination was more effective than either one alone.64 In a related study, administration of omega-3s to patients with recurrent self-harm (e.g., cutting, picking, scratching, burning—the ultimate expression of anxiety) showed a reduction in suicidality, depression, and daily stress.65 A recent trial gave omega-3s along with minerals to eleven-year-old kids with conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder (the ones who routinely find themselves in the principal’s office), and within three months their aggression was reduced, and way better than talk therapy.66 Lastly, omega-3 consumption can help ward off depression in children67 and adults,68 and can serve as an adjunct to SSRIs in its treatment.69 "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

9 " (I enjoy what I do; I enjoy the company of others; I look back with a sense of happiness; I feel full of energy). "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

10 " Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

11 " In Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, the three states for which we currently have data, the drop in SSRI use has been inversely proportional to the increase in pot use. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

12 " That need for surprise is what it’s all about. Surprise is visceral and immediate, and stokes our dopamine and our nucleus accumbens. But it’s fleeting, and rarely does any happiness come out of it. In fact, the frequent checking of cell phones, waiting for something to change, is linked to anxiety and depression.6 Of course, again, correlation is not causation. Do cell phones cause depression? Or are depressed people trying to eke out a little dopamine rush? Or both? I’ll tell you one thing: cell phones certainly don’t bring serenity. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

13 " Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

14 " Like other drugs, marijuana acts on a specific part of the brain and, depending on whether you are a person who gets paranoid from a few tokes, it can, like, seriously, help you to mellow out. However, chronic marijuana users show long-term cognitive decline to the tune of 8 IQ points,10 so, in the end, they may be less stressed about reality anyway. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

15 " Normal volunteers played the Responder in the Ultimatum Game twice, either after consuming a tryptophan-depleting drink (which lowers serotonin levels in the brain; see Chapter 7) or a control beverage.22 During the tryptophan depletion, Responders couldn’t accept a deal; they showed increased impulsivity and vindictiveness, which was predictable based on the change in tryptophan levels in their blood. This shows that reducing the molecule of contentment biochemically resulted in more impulsivity and spite behaviorally. Even giving tryptophan to an ornery dude can acutely improve his mood. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

16 " The food industry continues to put its thumb on the scales of objectivity, both figuratively and literally. Five out of six studies funded by the industry show no effect of sugared beverages on weight gain, while ten out of twelve studies by independent scientists show a clear effect on weight gain.44 "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

17 " While human hacking does not occur via computer code, there are many ways to tinker with the human brain. Certainly drugs can do the tampering. How about cleverly disguised messages, disinformation, propaganda, and the newest method of tampering, fake news? Can these messages act like phishing? And what if one of these messages gains hold? Can these alter your brain? Or how about something as innocuous as food? All of the above. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

18 " These past forty years have witnessed the twin epidemics of the negative extremes of both of these emotions: addiction (from too much pleasure) and depression (from not enough happiness). "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

19 " All our behaviors are manifestations of the biochemistry that drives them. To pull ourselves and our children back from the edge of this man-made abyss at which we now stand, we first have to understand the science. "

― Robert H. Lustig , The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains