Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health, Revised and Expanded Edition (California Studies in Food and Culture)

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For what it's worth, potential readers of Nestle's book should note that the first three "reader reviews" of this book are pretty obviously cranked out by some food industry PR campaign. To begin with, they were all submitted on the same date, February 22 -- "reader reviews" of a book that isn't even scheduled to go on sale until March 4! For another thing, they all hit on the same food industry "message points": that critics are "nagging nannies" whipping up "hysteria" on behalf of "greedy trial lawyers," etc. February 22 is also the date that noted industry flack Steven Milloy of the "Junk Science Home Page" (...) wrote a review trashing Nestle's book. Milloy is a former tobacco lobbyist and front man for a group created by Philip Morris, which has been diversifying its tobacco holdings in recent years by buying up companies that make many of the fatty, sugar-laden foods that Nestle is warning about. (...)

I haven't even had a chance yet to read Nestle's book myself, but it irritates me to see the food industry's PR machine spew out the usual (...) every time someone writes something they don't like. If they hate her this much, it's probably a pretty good book.

Nutrition expert Marion Nestle's "Food Politics" explains how the formula for a healthy diet hasn't changed. She advises that one should eat more plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables and whole grains) and less meat, dairy and sweets. But this message collides with the interests of the food-industrial complex, which makes the bulk of its profits by selling relatively expensive processed foods. The book examines how corporations have successfully fought the health message by using a number of overt and covert tactics to further their objectives at the public's expense.

In fact, this business success story has resulted in a generation of Americans who are significantly overweight compared with their predecessors. Nestle shows that public relations and government lobbying result in obfuscation and mixed messages about the relative values of certain foods; this generally confuses Americans and makes it difficult to get the "eat less" message. Interestingly, she reveals that the amount of sweets and snack foods consumed are in almost exact proportion to the advertising dollars spent promoting these foods, suggesting that limits on advertising junk food to children might be a reasonable first step in addressing this problem.

But Nestle is particularly critical of the criminally poor quality of the nation's public school lunch program and the "pouring rights" contracts struck with soft drink companies by cash-starved school districts. Our country's apparent unwilingness to provide nutritious meals to our schoolchildren is shameful, and Nestle should be congratulated for bringing the situation to light.

Other noteworthy sections of the book address the deregulation of dietary supplements and the invention of "techno-foods", ie foods that have been fortified with vitamins, minerals or herbal ingredients. The overall picture is one of regulators on the defensive and huckster capitalism run rampant. While it was disturbing but not too surprising to learn about relatively obscure supplement makers making absurd claims for products that have little scientifically proven value, it was somewhat amusing to see a reprint of a short-lived advertisement for Heinz ketchup that promoted its supposed cancer-fighting properties. It appears there are no limits to what kinds of food products might be similarly reinvented by marketers in their quest for higher profits.

In the closing chapter, Nestle proposes a number of useful solutions. Her ideas are reasonable and display a maturity gained through many years spent in government and academia. In an environment where food choices and information surrounding food products are increasingly difficult to understand, let's hope that this book inspires us all to demand greater accountability from the food companies that feed us. Highly recommended!

Here's the thing.

As one reviewer mentioned I think the bulk of negative reviewers have not actually read this book.

The author is a nuritionist, who says that despite the really basic nutritional advice of most nutritionists which has not significantly changed over the course of a half century, the public still views nutritional advice as difficult to understand.

Why?

Because the food industry makes more money when it sells more products. It has a vested interest in getting people to at least buy (if not eat) more food. Most importantly, the least healthy foods (i.e. highly processed foods) have the highest profit margins. To ensure profits, they pressure the government to avoid informing the public in an easily understandable format that they should eat less and avoid processed foods.

Is she saying this is the ONLY reason why americans are fat? No. But the fact that many, many, many americans have problems figuring out what the heck to eat is heavily due to the food lobbyists, a fact which she goes into in nauseating detail.

And therein lies the problem.

Nestle is an Academic and she writes like one. Anyone familiar with non-fiction in the style of Nickle and Dimed, Fast Food Nation, or even Island of the Colorblind will find Food Politics irritating. Not because the book is poorly written, per se, but because it's dull.

She obscures critical points between reams of facts, her narrative style plods along instead of floating or skipping, and I frequently felt like hurling the book across the room screaming get to the point already.

But I did finish the book.

Because the message is far more important then the limited medium. This book is critically important in that it hi-lights the sad reality that billions of dollars being spent vying for a place on the tip of your fork. Sadly very little of this money bears your health in mind.

Eric Schlosser writes about FOOD POLITICS, "If you eat, you should read this book." But while Schlosser revealed to a mass public the disturbing business of fast food, Marion Nestle takes on most of the food industry, and not without consequences (you can view a letter she received from a lawyer representing the sugar industry on the website for this book).

She argues that basic nutrition science is simple. Yet there is mass confusion about what to eat and what effects foods have. And the reason for all of this misinformation is that it benefits food producers to have an innocent flock of customers who are left uncertain of how to judge what is healthy from what is not. She clearly explains what means the food industry uses to influence policies to their benefit, often at the expense of public health. And she gives detailed examples that illustrate the extent to which some companies and industries go to sell their products.

While her suggestions for reform may be somewhat wanting, her descriptions of how decisions about food get made on political levels is masterfully researched and she is always respectful of science. While those people with vested interests in certain industries may label her a communist, she is merely critiquing a history of policies and marketing strategies that have, to be sure, provided us with an abundant food supply, but have also led to increased obesity and high rates of chronic diseases.

Judging from the other "reviews" of this book, it's obvious that the mere existence of this book strikes a chord in those "conspiracy-theory", "big-business-is-out-to-get-us", "someone-needs-to-protect-us" Naderite-types.
Is anyone really surprised that the food business is actually a BUSINESS? And that the nature of businesses is to promote their own self-interests, advertise to the end-user, and produce products that the end user wants to buy?
I take exception to the premise that our choices are controlled by the food business. The reality is that our choices are controlling the food industry! Changes in our buying patterns - and that alone - will result in changes in the food industry. Doubt it? Look at the burgeoning organic food industry (yes, it's a business, too!).

The implication of several other reviewers is that somehow the food industry needs to be regulated into doing for us what we don't seem capable of ourselves - making responsible individual choices. This, of course, would leave us with no choice, except those "choices" deemed appropriate by "Big Brother". (Socialism vs. Democracy/Free Enterprise)
The responsibility for starving children lies not with the food industry, but with governments, churches, and individuals - with emphasis on the individual. The sole responsibility of any business is to - within the law - produce income (earn a living) for its owners and employees.

Whether or not you agree, I'm sure we can all agree that it is incumbent upon both businesses and individuals to behave in a socially responsible manner. I'm sure the author has found ample evidence that not all businesses in the food industry have done so. That acknowledged, I contend that it's wrong to paint an entire industry with such a broad stroke of a brush dipped in muck.

It's no surprise that we live in what the social critic Guy Debord calls a "spectacle" culture whose values and symbols increasingly originate from the marketing world. Mega-corporations are in the business of making a profit, and the way they do that is to use media to persuade ... folks into buying their products. Doubt it? Then try to get rid of all the advertizing jingles floating around in your head. Recent studies show that infants recognize manufacturing logos before they recognize their own names. We live in one vast commercial. We are consumer nation.

Marion Nestle has written an excellent and frightening book about the food side of consumer nation, documenting the lengths the food industry goes to manipulate the public, market its wares, and achieve the bottom line. The problem is that we over-stuffed Americans have too many choices about what to munch: food products proliferate. (I mean, just count the number of breakfast cereals available to you the next time you go to the supermarket. Do we REALLY need 43 different kinds of fiber to choose from?) So in order to push its product, the food industry revs up the marketing pressure. The ironically named Nestle exposes the ways that food manufacturers and retailers do this through their lobbying efforts with the FDA, through targeting consumer groups--especially kids--with as much zeal as Joe Camel used to hawk smokes to underagers, by bribing school systems to tout soft drinks and junk foods to students (as, for example, rewards for reading), or by fudging dietary and nutritional information packaged with the product.

The way in which the food industry manipulates us in order to push its products is obscene enough. But what's even more shameful is the fact that people are still starving, both here and abroad, even though there's so much damn food available that retailers are stumbling over themselves trying to sell it. UNESCO reports that between 35,000 and 40,000 kids die each day throughout the world (ncluding the U.S.) of starvation or hunger-related illness. These deaths aren't caused by a lack of food, but by lousy distribution of food. The politics and business of food pursues the bottom line while millions starve.

Read this book, be horrified, get angry, and change your life. Break free of the spectacle society. Mega-corporations can be stopped when we consumers stand up to them in the way they understand best: when we refuse to buy their products and play their game.

This book is simply essential. It exposes many of the myths we've been led to believe about how food regulation occurs, and what nutritional advice is valued, and which is discarded. It's not a "conspiracy theory," although one might start to form that impression after the first 50 or so pages, all on one's own. Food companies and lobbyists, lazy/venal academics, complaisant nutritionists and greedy marketers all get the sharp end of the knife in this excellent book. Marion Nestle is superbly qualified to write this book, and has put together an excellent case illustrating how food issues have been politicized for years, leading to our current epidemic of obesity and diet-related diseases.

If you ever wanted to know why USDA is so hopelessly weak about nutrition issues, or how the FDA had its teeth pulled, just dive in and find out. 'Fast Food Nation' is almost trivial in comparison. The chapters on the manipulations of soft drinks companies in the school system, and the activities of 'supplement' peddlers will really shock you.

Buy one for any friend of yours who has the slightest doubt about the truth of the following nutrition message: 'eat less,' and 'eat less non-nutritious junk' in particular. If you don't accept that message, you have been *brainwashed*, and this book will show you just how it happened.

In Sheldon M Rampton's review, above, he hits the nail right on the head (and no, I don't know Sheldon). The food industry is desperate to prevent the kind of backlash that's been visitng McDonald's in the wake of the (easily verifiable) truths revealed by "Fast Food Nation." But they shouldn't.

This book is not one of those "let me show you how yucky the kitchens are" books whose only purpose is to shock you and not really do any good in the end. What this book does is show you the "man behind the curtain" you're not supposed to see (remember the Wizard of Oz?) in terms we can all understand, and reveals the wide discrepancy between the way the food industry works and the way we all (want to) think it does.

Is this a struggle in vain? It might seem so at first. And yet, as mighty as the McDonalds "Goliath" seemed to be before FFN came out, they have quickly responded to the public's outcry, and they're doing wonderful things now that they realize that good citizenship can still be good for business. Let's hope that the rest of the food industry can learn the same lesson as they did.

Read this book, and the food industry will start paying LOTS of attention to the lesson.

You'll be glad you read this book.

Marion Nestle's book Food Politics is fantastic! This book may be the biggest expose in the food industry since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle! Nestle's fresh perspective on the food industry and the goverment's influence on our eating habits is sure to be the most popular and talked about controversy since the tobacco industry was targeted by health officials! It's huge! And, Food Politics is written in a very clear and concise manner. The style in which it is written will interest a wide audience - not only will people in the nutrition and food fields enjoy the book, but it will also captivate people in the business and healthcare industries, consumers, federal workers, advertising, public relations and marketing industries, people in agriculture, public policy makers, and basically anyone who buys and eats commercial foods. This book totally changed the way I view not only the food industry and government but how I am choosing my own foods on a daily basis. I found the book to be insightful and interesting. This book is a must read!

This book is up there with "Fast Food Nation" as an excellent expose of a business most of us take completely for granted. We all just assume food suppliers care about what we are eating and what they are selling, but - as in any business, most companies are more concerned with profits and dollars than people and health. I love a good Pop Tart now and then, and probably will continue to do so, but after reading this book I will never take advertisements or food promotions for granted.

What is particularly impressive is that Ms Nestle does not engage in the usual scare tactics professional nutritionists usually use (I think the previous three reviewers read a completely different book!) Nor does she tell us what to eat or what not to eat - it is NOT a book selling dietary advice - rather she looks at the business of marketing food and finds its practices questionable at best.

A balanced "must read" for anyone interested in food or health!

If you want to know about the ins and outs of food science or the food industry, this book will be disappointing. But if you're interested in how the food induatry (agriculture, food processing, retail and restaurant) influence and dominate our governments' approach to food, this book is the one for you.

Dr. Nestle, a nutrition scientist, has spent years consulting with the USDA and other government agencies dealing with food. She had a lot to do with creation and publication of the famous "food pyramid."

In this work, she was subject to relentless lobbying by food companies determined to prevent the government from recommending that people eat less of their products. They sent whole armies of lobbyists, not just to Washington, but to state governements, universities, and anywhere else they could influence food science.

They donate money to universities, fund studies of their own, give gifts to legislators and woo regulators. They frequently get their own corporate representatives appointed to regulatory and administrative positions. As a result, they have watered down or changed any attempt to advise eating less fat, less sugar, or less of anything.

I think the great value of this book is revealing how our government works. This is not just about food. Every facet of government is subject to corporate influence and domination. You can really see this in the insurance companies' ability to derail health insurance reform, and the drug companies' blocking drug purchases from foreign countries.

Perhaps we can take our government back, step by step. Food Politics is a good teaching tool for those who want to fight back.

David Spero RN...

I found this book to be very informative about the political workings of the food industry. I agree with several other reviewers that it is a little dull and in an factual style (kind of reminds me of a history book. However I like that kind of reading, so it doesn't bother me.)

This book's basic premise is that the food industry's purpose is to sell as much food as possible. The food industry doesn't care about its consumers and encourages them to eat more than they need, produces lots of useless, cheap, junk food, and will do whatever it can within the political system (mostly legal, but sometimes illegal. The author documents one such example of price collusion) to set up an environment that is the most favorable to its interests.

The book documents how the FDA, Congress, and government agencies are influenced by the food industry. It provides details about the food industry's lobbying, studies and research grants funded by various segments of the food industry, the food industry's attempts to gain brand loyalty though school contracts, conflicts with the school lunch program, and attempts to maximize sales through bonuses for the schools. It chronicles the rise of the supplement industry and their involvement with the FDA.

The author does seem to have a somewhat leftist agenda in the last chapter in giving recommendations; but with that exception, I thought the overall tone of the book was neutral and strictly documentary. It's good solid book which people who are interested in their health or the American food industry should read.

This book touches upon issues that everyone is aware of but chooses to ignore. The author makes this obvious but in an non-condescending way which is much appreciated. He ties the biases of the food industry in with other industries such as the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries. Drawing the connections between these three and the governmental regulatory agencies that work with/against them respectively (USDA, FDA, ATF), the author illustrates just how much of a problem this is. Not only was I fascinated by the issue, but I found the writing very accessible. Well done and it's too bad more haven't read it.

Marion Nestle has walked onto the stage of public discourse and claimed a great victory for scholarship with her heroic effort, Food Politics. Her argument is clear, concise, devastatingly accurate, and--most important--based on first-rate research. Bravo! Her courageous book does exactly what its title indicates--she provides the details on how the food industry, especially the large corporations, may provide economies of scale in producing food for general consumption, but that also, in its rush to compete in the marketplace, seduces us all, especially our children, into eating more than we need. The excellence of her approach and, yes, her metadiscourse as well, has much to instruct a wide range of people on effective ways to present argumentation on any issue.

Nestle presents a well researched, balanced description of how our market system in the US can hurt its citizens if proper checks and balances aren't applied. Our system only works if consumers are informed and can act on that information. Instead, it is abundantly evident that food producers (who are after all in the business of making money, not protecting our health)are experts at manipulating our food choices by advertising to children, lobbying for food labels that mislead the public, and generally doing everything they can to relax regulations meant to protect us that may stand in the way of increased revenue. Nestle's research in many ways is analogous to the saga of big tobacco, but food as she points out is much more nuanced -- you can't tell people just stop eating food like you can cigarettes. So who is at fault? Its not just industry, its our political system, our regulating agencies, school boards, and advocates. Nestle's writing is fine, just too detailed for some audiences at some points. Her research seems exhaustive (and is exhaustively referenced) and she speaks from first hand experience. Nestle is courageous for writing this and it will surely become a classic in public health literature.

When I came back to USA in 1990 from Japan after 10 years, I was a little shocked. It's there are so many obese. I stop seeing proportionate people as I admired once before (since I'm from Japan; we were small and rather plain looking.) What happened! I thought it's that soda-pop as I always watch the countless gallon bottles my next customers are buying at the every grocery shopping. As I was wondering, this nation sued tobacco companies. So I kept wondering, why don't they blame major soda-pop companies for obese. Soda-pop companies are not the sole culprit, but I was surprised to find that tabacco companies and sweet companies are somehow related. Anyhow, whatever the policy that the government had or have, if any, failed. I really hope to do something to improve American diet. Sooner is better. (I go to large Oriental Grocery Store at least once a month. You will be amazed how much size of green section they carry. It's almost 10 times of what Giants or Safeway carries, for example.)

The author's style is lively and the book is a good read. However, the author provides no compelling reason to justify her solution to reducing fats and sugars from the food supply - which is more government. What is ironic is that this book is full of instances of weak politicians and bureaucrats who are easily influenced by the giant food corporations. Their behavior is so high school that it would be laughable were they not squandering millions of our tax dollars studying (and running from) the obvious and yet the author concludes that more of these government bureaucrats are needed to protect the population from itself. Perhaps this book makes the best case for term limits - the shorter a period that people are exposed to influence the less likely they will be corrupted. The author does make other reasonable suggestions including banning soft drink manufacturers
from the public schools. I'm tempted to include fast food franchises too, though as I recall the lunches provided by the
school system when I was in school (pizza, hamburgers, corn dogs ) were probably not much healthier.

Rather than restricting public access to supplements and letting
bureaucrats choose which foods to tax I think the focus should
be on education within the schools from first grade on so that
children and adults can make proper choices.

In any case, the book is well written and useful. I hope it will
stimulate some serious discussion on an important topic.

A good read! All you thought you knew about the food industry but didn't want to believe. It contains very apparent, detailed accounts of how big money food conglomerates steer legislation and deregulation of the food industry and marketplace to sell you processed junk in healthy packages. If you believe the food industry is researching products in your best interest, to make food safer and genuinely more nutritious, read this book! The book, along with a few others pertaining to similar topics, restores some bit of hope that there are indeed a few people out there that value good food and nutrition, and are wise to the fact that good nutrition doesn't come in glossy cellophane packages stamped with health claims touting unbelievable `magic bullet' statements targeted to those with limited understanding of nutrition and health.

This book was interesting but I felt the writing style was not as engaging as other similar types of books. I thought she got bogged down in details without actually making a point. Also, I thought there would be more new information--although I did learn some things, it was not surprising that the food industry lobby groups are shaping our public policy with their check books or that actual nutrition science often comes in second to PR concerns. I thought it was weak in terms of suggesting actual solutions. Also, while I think that she does raise real concerns, it was almost too narrowly focused and didn't really address the wide range of trends that affect how we eat.

This book is like an atom bomb on the rapcious and irresponsible food industy- with its massive pushing of high calorie, high profit junk food all in the name of $$$

I am suprised it even got published because it is so utterly devastating to such a powerful plank of American capitalism.

Great and courageous work Marion Nestle!!

It's a piece of cake for Prof. Nestle. The food industry is the only reason why people are overweight and obese. It is only their greed and unscrupulousness that turned us into "Couch-Potatoes".

This narrow-minded approach is interesting for a scientist. All scientific areas, which deal with the issue of obesity, agree that obesity is a multifactorial problem. Of course, everything we eat does play an important role, but there are many other factors which also have a significant impact. One of the most prominent ones is the increasing lack of physical activity that influences the equation energy intake minus energy expenditure - even with constant intake - negatively.

The methods of resolution in this book - if one can find any - are much too short-sighted and do not take other lifestyle factors into consideration, let alone the personal responsibility all of us need to show. But the latter seems to be a specific US trait...

In short: long stories, little essence, not thought through.

This is an engrossing and important book, and the more people who read it, the better Americans' health as a whole will be. People don't understand the enormous power the food industry wields, much like the tobacco industry, and how little accountability it has for the products it sells. The health effects of those products are only beginning to be known, as are the dirty little secrets behind how animals are raised and the antibiotics, hormones and, yes, pesticides that they are treated with. This book goes a long way to diseminating this important information.

Individuals incapable of thinking for themselves will truly appreciate, Marion Nestle's book - Food Politics. The author, a professor and of the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University puts much of the blame for the nation's weight problem on the food industry. Has she ever heard of personal responsibility, exercise, and appropriate dieting?

Nestle takes a specific aim at the impact on children and claims that the "food industry targets children and converts schools into vehicles for selling junk foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional value. Clever and slick marketing strategies target consumers from the cradle onward." She refuses to acknowledge some key facts. Obesity in children is caused in part, to the lack of exercise. Urban and other limited budget school districts across the country continue to reduce daily physical education programs, football, and other extra-curricular activities. Moreover, the lure of computer games and twenty-four hour cable programs have children sitting still for hours throughout the day.

Nestle's book only creates the kind of hysteria caused by our litigious society. The Surgeon's General's recent remarks declaring that obesity is a major health problem has greedy trial lawyers considering filing lawsuits against food and beverage companies. This whiny book only helps them "fuel the fire" and reaches their goals.

Marion Nestle's book "Food Politics" makes clear that the political system she favors is dictatorship - with her in command. Marion is just so much smarter than us all, and so much more virtuous, and so much more in self-control, that she can be the meal planner for the world. If you disagree with anything she says, you're overweight, undereducated and stupid.

The author's motto could be "if it tastes good don't eat it." She rails against foods we've all grown up with and enjoy, and wants to make us feel like bad parents if we let our kids have any of these foods. Should we eat like pigs? Of course not. Should people who are obese have stricter diets than the rest of us? Absolutely. But there's no need for everyone, regardless of their weight and their health, to deny themselves moderate amounts of enjoyable foods. We'd all be better off is we got up off our rear ends and spent less time in front of the TV and playing video games, and more time engaging in sports and exercise to burn up excess calories and build stronger, healthier bodies.

"Food Politics" is a really enlightening and educational read for anyone who eats! I was recommended this book by my professor who I became a teaching assistant to (the class is Nutrition in Medicine). Being a foodie who believes in fresh ingredients and minimal processing, this book not only reiterates what I know (and believe), it also presents new information about the competitive food industry. During the time I read the book, I began realizing the food industry's actions on my daily experience, such as grocery shopping. I also realized that they have succeeded brainwashing the "Variety is good for the diet" motto not only to me but also my loved ones.

I got pretty disillusioned with both the government and the food industry after reading this. Not that I've never known about Senate/Congress lobbyists and corruption, it's just that I never realized the extent that it happens! Nevertheless, "Food Politics" is a beneficial read for anyone interested in finding out more about the industry.

Prof. Marion Nestle covers all the bases in this comprehensive and shocking inside look at the American food industry, and its collusion with government and "science." Food Politics goes a long way toward exposing the underbelly of the current obesity epidemic, and related diatetes, cancer and heart disease. Nestle shows how even the agencies designed to protect public interest in this area are corrupted by vested interests. And she makes clear how the "paradox of plenty" is driving us to eat more and move less. Also recommended: The Hungry Gene by Ellen Ruppel Shell, another scupulously researched expose that puts the obesity epidemic into historical, political and scientific perspective.

At last consumers have a hope of understanding the industry and government machinations that are behind the manipulation of food choices and policies in the US. Nutritionists and dietitians should regard this as required reading if they care about a true understanding of the context in which they practice their professions. But the clarity of the prose here means that everyone, not just food professionals, can -- and should -- read this book. Marion Nestle has done the US public a real service with this book; one wishes she would take on the pharmaceutical industry next.

Regarding the review below: Hurray, we found the culprit!, February 23, 2003 -- Reviewer: A reader from Europe.

What "Reader" fails to realize is that although there are other factors leading to obesity, this book is not about ALL of the reasons. This book is about ONE reason, and that is what the author has effectively covered.

Interesting the reviewer used his or her review as an opportunity to take a jab at Americans in general. Makes me question whether the reviewer was actually discussing the book, or his/her personal feelings about America.

This book is not some stupid Michael Moore-style "expose" of the "food lobby," and anyone simpleminded enough to get that out of it...well...probably thinks Michael Moore makes sense too.

Marion Nestle has a pretty impressive resume, and has good authority to write a book like this. Sure, you might think she's trying to tell you that Great Big Establishment Secret in describing how different manufacturing/producing groups try to make their products appear in the best light at the FDA, USDA and so on. But HELLO, PEOPLE! That is the stuff you learn in Economics or Marketing 101. Who are these simpletons who believe any businessperson wouldn't want to talk up his/her product's good side, and downplay its bad? Are there really people that naive about how commerce works? Apparently so, if this book is shocking to anyone. I weep for our touchy-feely education system sometimes...and reading these reviews is one of those moments.

Anyhow, the book pretty much lays out what anyone who's ever had a weight problem knows. We eat too much, move too little, and rely on high-caloric-density foods in the US. Eat less, and eat fewer junk foods. Duh.

Weak-willed people will love "Food Politics" - shame on them. Marion Nestle, one of the foremost food nannies in this country, has produced a book that heaps the blame for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease on food producers, marketing executives, and even school principals. Everyone, it seems, is responsible for those love handles except for the very people who are carrying them around.

In Ms. Nestle's world, there is no willpower, common sense, or personal responsibility. Most overweight people are simply passive "victims" of industry. She writes: "I have become increasingly convinced that many of the nutritional problems of Americans -- not least of them obesity -- can be traced to the food industry's imperative to encourage people to eat more in order to generate sales and increase income in a highly competitive marketplace." Excuse me? Ad campaigns and super-size restaurant specials may "encourage" me to eat but they don't compel me. That's because, like most people, I belong to the "a-little-of-what-you-fancy-does-you-good" school of eating. There is no Orwellian plot to hook us on certain foods and drinks from cradle to nursing home.

Ms. Nestle's book reminds me of her real agenda: the promotion of a "fat tax" or "Twinkie tax" on food and drinks, which in moderation and as part of a balanced diet, add fun to everyday life. This policy could actually work against the objectives of the food nannies. The aim would be to discourage consumers from buying certain products, yet this "sin tax" could make the goods more alluring to shoppers who are looking for a little indulgence. Of course, the biggest reason to oppose Ms. Nestle's hidden agenda is that consumers don't need another tax, thank you very much. This nagging book misses the mark. Eat, exercise, be happy.

Government in bed with the industry. Government wins through private sector employment, companies win by selling you dirt cheap harmful garbage. You lose.

I'd take the first 3 reviews submitted with a grain of salt.

I loved the exposure of the total domination of the food industry. All of us (at least in Western Culture) are subjected to a set of competing and paradoxical messages such as eat more and weigh less. Evey newspaper, television ad, and magazine model demand that we be thin yet at the same time encourage us to eat more food and make less healthy choices. I believe the food industry and the diet industry go hand in hand. One could not exist without the other. Food Politics is a wonderful book that supports my own research in my book Fat Like Us. I encourage everyone to read it.

Originally published in 2002 and updated in 2007 Marion Nestle's "Food Politics" is an informative if academic read. She explains clearly and patiently how the food industry has co-opted nutritionists, government agencies, and schools, threatening the health and safety of consumers and children. And when they cannot co-opt they choose to misinform, lie, slander, or sue, as when Texas cattlemen sued Oprah Winfrey. Especially frustrating is how, thanks to their successful lobbying and close government connections (there seems to be a revolving door between the Food & Drug Administration and the executive suites of food conglomerates such as Monsanto) the food industry can legally mislabel their products to misinform consumers. This is especially true for vitamin supplements, which can make a lot of outrageous claims without ever having to go through FDA approval.

The only problem with the book is that it is perhaps too right. Since the initial publication of "Food Politics," a lot of other books, sometimes based on the original insights offered in "Food Politics," have been published that gives readers a more comprehensive and disturbing look into the manipulations and machinations of the vast and powerful food industry. And this past summer a documentary called "Food, Inc." came out, which puts in stunning and striking visual context the problems with the food industry. Even Marion Nestle's new book "What to Eat" distills all the insights from her first work.

Reading "Food Politics" then is slightly redundant. That is not the fault of the author. Indeed, it's a testament to how influential the book has become.

Marion Nestle has a lot of useful and important information in this book; however, her style is very clinical and mundane. I found myself working to stay awake whenever I read the book. I did finish it, because I think it's good knowledge to have, but a better writer could have made the material pop.

There's much to say about Nestle's "Food Politics" and "What To Eat," but the overarching message is that the food industries lie compulsively in order to maximize profits. There's no reason to assume that food-company profit maximization would lead to any desirable outcome: they will produce more food every year in the quest for profit growth, and that food will be as artificial and toxic as the laws will allow them. They will resist any food labeling that might harm their sales. This includes:

* "organic" (which implies that some foods are better than others)
* warnings about toxicity (e.g., methylmercury in tuna)
* the USDA food pyramid, which explicitly places junk food at the top and low-profit vegetables near the bottom

They offload the regulatory burden onto consumers: if you're getting fat, it's your own fault. Of course, they say this while they fight tooth and nail against any labeling requirement that might help you choose. And they fight against any regulation that might make you safer at their expense.

And of course there's the advertising. The same companies that tearfully demand your 'freedom to choose' with hand over heart are the same ones that target your children: everything from Saturday-morning cartoon ads to McDonald's sponsorship of Teletubbies to Coca-Cola branded baby bottles. In-depth psychological research understands exactly what will make your child tug at your sleeve in the grocery store and beg for the most profitable sugary cereal. So you have the 'freedom to choose', defended by companies that do all they can to deny it.

Marion Nestle's magisterial books prove these points in extraordinary detail, yet they pull off the trick with an eloquence that makes them read like novels. The basic premise, though, is beyond dispute: food companies exist to maximize shareholder return. Their investors demand growth every year. There's no reason to expect that this demand will work in your favor.

I plowed my way through this book across many late-nights at my favorite 24/7 coffee bar, easily ignoring all of the "local atmosphere."

If you can handle heavy academic reading, this book is practically a Woodward & Bernstein thriller -- an extremely engrossing exposé concerning the VERY ugly political underbelly of the American food industry, and how it chugs away to keep all of us as confused as possible about our food choices and what honestly constitutes sound nutritional guidance.

If you're boggled by choices that SHOULD be simple, such as trying to figure out whether it's healthier to eat butter or some chemical facsimile which includes ingredients you couldn't pronounce to save your grandmother's soul, the spotlight on politics in this book will salve your frazzled mind. The decades of political insanity and posturing surrounding something so seemingly simple as [what food pyramid version is permitted in schools] says so much about the ENTIRE industry. Don't feel badly if you're a bit confused about "good nutrition," because you are NOT alone. Scores of millions of Americans feel the EXACT same way ... and Big Food likes it that way!

Nestle's writing does indeed get rather heady in some sections; however, she's challenging decades of contradiction, confusion, obfuscation, and outright lies that Big Food has tried to sell to America, so it really is necessary for her to preemptively buttress herself against anticipated challenges from Big Food and their seemingly-endless supply of lawyers and lobbyists. Ignore the negative reviews.

If heady, heavily-cited reading is NOT your thing, feel free to check out the [similar reading] suggestions, because there will probably arrive some point (or several) at which you REALLY want to throw this book at the wall. Just an honest observation.

I purchased this book for a course I am taking in food policy and find it a very readable companion to the course. I think it provides a firm grounding in the underlying structures that shape our food landscape, namely the powerful influence of industry over government.

Amazing, well thought out and researched book. I found it to be an interesting book as well. One of the best in the type of genre.

Marion Nestle is an amazing researcher that worked diligently to unravel the truth about Lobbyists for the food industry, and their effect on the Food Pyramid. Americans are eating today based on the misnomers of a politized Congressional debate. It is the most fascinating read I have ever had. It will not only inform you, but change the way we eat and the way we feed our families. This book has had a tremendous impact on my life and I'm sure it will have the same effect on yours. Since the "Super Size Me" experiment of Morgan Spurlock, who called Marion Nestle his mentor, Americans are more concerned about our food source. Marion Nestles research will not oly help you to understand the problems of food labeling, but teach you what questions we should be asking our selves before we choose what we eat. I have attached a copy of the link to her book. It is a must read. So, be sure to treat yourself and your loved ones to a whole new understanding of how "Political" food truly can be. http://www.amazon.com/Food-Politics-Influences-Nutrition-California/dp/0520254031/ref=cm_cmu_up_add_glance

I haven't finished reading the book yet, but it is defiantly a eye opener. I think everyone should read this book. it should be a required reading for high school age students.

I had no idea about the politics behind food, Its a great resource and the information is Life Changing. Read the book "Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet" by J.B. Mackinnon, Brilliant Addition!

Had to read this for a college class on Consumer Science. None the less, this is actually disturbing and eye-opening about the industry. You can really see many of the examples that she points out in current time.

If you enjoy nutrition, food or health, this is something to put on your reading list.

This is a wonderful book by nutrition expert Marion Nestle. Reading it really change my life. The information within this book really opened my mind to what is really happening, not just what I learned in undergraduate university nutrition classes.
Please read this. Borrow from the library if necessary, but I purchased it and highlighted so many great thoughts so I could show others.
If you read any book about health or nutrition, make this the one. (Then read the China Study, by T.Colin Campbell)

The Houston Chronicle (Feb 23, 2003) front-page story headline was "Bringing ephedra's risks to light, High-profile death may not stop young athletes' use of stimulant". Over the counter herbal products contain deathly ephedra. A quote from a father, whose son probably died due to such an herbal product, was "(I) know little can be done until supplements are regulated by the FDA". This book shows how the FDA lost any powers it had to regulate herbal products or supplements.

However, the biggest problem is the overt partnership of Congress, various Administrations and the food industry to subvert healthy eating for more profits. It reads like Carson's Silent Spring with the consequence of deregulation - the epidemic of obesity. The author, Dr. Nestle, is a legitimate nutritionist and previously work with the FDA. She convincingly shows how the food industry with help from Congress and the administration's desire to reduce regulation promotes over consumption of food. Her thesis is that the food industry must sell more and more food to make a profit- a change from 3200Kcal/day/American to 3800Kcal/day/American.

This book is required reading for any one who cares about children's health, their own health, and wants to make changes. This book should be required reading for health care professionals that deal with chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular or the over the counter supplements, herbals, and nutrition education. This book should activate us to change the supplement laws and require food industry to partner to promote foods from the more important food groups: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

The book ends with appendix describing issues in nutrition research. This section helps anyone who is not familiar with the latest in nutrition research. The book is very readable with an excellent reference section.