The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children

328 Pages·2023·10.537 MB·English

by  Carol Simontacchi

CAROL SIMONTACCHI
An unprecedented and impeccably rej or led look
at how American food manufactureis
“products” may be endangering our minds.
re brand-name consumer food producers
manufacturing and marketing products that
X A. redefine what we think food to be? How far
afield of true food have the search for profit and the
need to meet consumer trends led major food manu¬
facturers? And what effects are the new goods we
find advertised on our television screens and sold
on our supermarket shelves having on our minds
and our children’s?
In the tradition of Rachel Carson’s landmark
work Silent Spring, nutritionist Carol Simontacchi
takes a hard, shattering look at how the pseudo¬
foods being promoted today-from infant formulas
to supposedly health-conscious packaged meals-can,
in fact, physically erode our brains. While previous
research has shown that certain food choices may
contribute to such degenerative ailments as cancer,
diabetes, and heart disease, Simontacchi maintains
that our mental condition is also at risk. Examining
the relationship of diet to changing levels of chemi¬
cals in the brain, she finds that:
• Consumer baby formulas and baby foods can
harm an infant’s brain development.
• Ingredients and residues such as MSG and
neurotoxins are present in our children’s food,
hidden by misleading labels.
• The stripping of essential minerals from the
foods targeted to teenagers can be linked to
anorexia nervosa, bulimia, poor cognition, and
defiant behavior.
• Schools that strike deals with fast-food
companies are among the worst saboteurs of
children’s healthy diets and minds.
• Many supposedly health-conscious foods are
so deficient in meeting adult health needs
that they threaten the physical ^: njciure of
the brain.
(Continu'd on back flap)
0005

THE
Crazy Makers

Also by Carol Simontacchi
Your Fat Is Not Your Fault
• K'• I../'
THE
Crazy Makers
How the Food Industry
Is Destroying Our Brains and
Harming Our Children
Carol Simontacchi
JEREMY P. TARCHER/pUTNAM
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PENGUIN PUTNAM INC.
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Copyright © 2000 by Carol Simontacchi
All rights reserved. This book, or pans thereof, may not
be reproduced in any form without permission.
Published simultaneously in Canada
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Simontacchi, Carol N.
The crazy makers : how the food industry is destroying our brains and
harming our childen / Carol Simontacchi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58542-035-2 (alk. paper)
I. Neurotoxicology. 2. Food additives—Toxicology. I. Title.
RC347.5.S56 2000 99-045188
615.9'54—dc2i
Printed in the United States of America
13579 10 8642
This book is printed on acid-free paper. © .
Book design by Tanya Maiboroda