Center for Social Innovation

Published: August 02, 2011 Download  50 minutes, 23.1mb, recorded 2011-04-18

We often find ourselves driven to consume unhealthy or damaging foods without fully understanding what motivates these cravings. In contrast with the predominantly physiological research in his field, the work of David Kessler contends that the fat, sugar, and salt in our foods are also capable of altering our brain's chemistry in ways that drive these powerful compulsions. In this audio lecture he investigates the marketing strategies of multinational food companies and the ways in which they can exploit these habits.

Former FDA Commissioner and author of the 2009 book The End of Overeating, David Kessler raises important questions about how we define the cultural norm for food consumption, what role our government should play in regulating food companies, and what ultimately is at stake for the United States. He stresses the difficulty in breaking our bad nutritional habits and still finding successful business alternatives. David Kessler was speaking as part of a speaker series entitled “The Impact of Multinationals on Global Health,” which was co-sponsored by the Center for Innovation in Global Health at the Stanford Medical School and the Program in Healthcare Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dr. David Kessler is a former Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration (1990-1997).  He was appointed by President G. H. W. Bush and reappointed by President Clinton.  He has also served as the Dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco, where he is currently a professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Resources

• Stanford Program in Healthcare Innovation
• The End of Overeating
• John Mackey & Michael Pollan: The Past, Present, and Future of Food
• Marion Nestle: Making Good Eating Choices
• Loud and Clear, a Stanford Social Innovation Review article