David Kessler on Democracy Now

Amy Goodman's interview of David Kessler, former FDA commissioner, speaks to the corporate food industry's purposeful manipulation of our food desires, promoting an addiction for sugar, fat and salt that is as insidious as the machinations of the tobacco industry.

In listening to Kessler, I thought fascinating the new neuroscience work in explaining the nature of addiction, how in large part it is caused by the development of neuronal networks associated with pleasure centers. Gratification of these pleasure centers over time leads to well-worn neuronal networks that "program" us for certain behaviors. Once programmed, deprogramming is very difficult, which explains the extreme difficulty in overcoming our addictions. And according to Kessler, this is why fad diets will not work. What does work, he says, is a new outlook on food in our lives.

Kessler's view confirms the notion of the importance of developing good habits in the early years of childhood. In the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotles argues that good living amounts to forming the right habits, aided by rational reflection. I believe Aristotle was right, and that freedom from addictions is necessary (but not sufficient) for freedom. But Aristotle did not have to contend with the power of corporations. Indeed, corporate power is the gargantuan obstacle to freedom here in the U.S.