Book review: The Hungry Brain

Weight loss
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Given the widespread interest in diet advice etc. in these forums, I thought people might be interested in this review of The Hungry Brain by Stephan Guyenet. The blog it’s on, Slate Star Codex, is run by a medical student (hmm, might even be qualified by now); one of his main themes is how-does-science-discover-the-truth. He’s written quite a lot on recent diet debates, including such issues as will power, dietary restriction, etc.

It’s a good, in-depth review of a very interesting sounding, science-y, evidence-based book written by a real researcher in the field. Massively abbreviating things, one of the many lessons is that bland food could be quite important in helping ameliorate the effects of the “Western diet” of “hyper-palatable, low-satiety” food.

The reviewer notes the possible conflict of interest arising from the fact that one of his site’s sponsors, MealSquares, produces a non-“hyper-palatable” food (it’s an American bread-roll version of Huel: think lembas, if you’re a Tolkien fan)… Huel, particularly U/U, could be argued to benefit from that same quality :-}

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In 1965, some scientists locked people in a room where they could only eat nutrient sludge dispensed from a machine.

Sounds like Huel was beaten to the punch… good thing they didn’t think to sell it back then :grinning:
But going from what the review suggests, it sounds like there wouldn’t have been much of a market for it in 1965. It’s modern unhealthy processed food that has created the market for something like Huel.

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