Professor Marion Nestle & Dr Lisa Sutherland - Sugar Coated

We’re joined by two nutrition superstars, Marion Nestle and Lisa Sutherland, as they take us behind the cereal box to explore what our breakfast choices reveal about food politics, American culture and the power of the food industry, through their new book, Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America’s Favorite Breakfast Food.

Marion is a world-leading food politics expert and Professor Emerita at New York University, while Lisa is Interim President at Jacksonville University and former Vice President of Nutrition at Kellogg Company. Together, they bring two complementary perspectives to the cereal aisle, from food policy and public health to Lisa’s insider experience at one of the world’s biggest cereal companies.

Using cereal boxes as a window into American history and culture, Sugar Coated explores how food marketing has evolved, how companies sell health and nostalgia alongside sugar-laden products, and what those colourful boxes can reveal about the policies and commercial interests shaping what we eat.

 In this episode, we discuss:

• Marion’s journey into food politics and what convinced her that our food choices are shaped by much more than individual willpower
• Lisa’s background in public health, food policy, and her time at Kellogg
• How Marion and Lisa came together to write Sugar Coated and how their different perspectives shaped the book
• What cereal boxes reveal about American history, culture and changing food trends
• What consumers should make of the claims and promises on the front of a food package
• What Marion and Lisa see when they walk down the cereal aisle, from marketing and nutrition to public policy
• The tactics food companies use to market to children, including toys, characters and carefully designed packaging
• The ethics of marketing to kids and its impact on parents and children
• Whether breakfast cereals have actually become more nutritious, or whether the marketing has simply become more sophisticated
• How the food industry has influenced health claims and food labelling policy
• How we can use cereal boxes to teach children to become more critical consumers of food marketing

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