How Tobacco Companies Engineered Your Food Cravings

In this episode, we dive into one of the most shocking truths about our modern food supply with Dr. Tera Fazzino, associate director at the KU Center for Addiction Research. What if we told you that the same tobacco companies that engineered cigarettes to be addictive also helped shape the foods you crave the most? From hyper-palatable snacks to sugary drinks, we unpack how these foods hijack your brain’s reward system—and why it’s so hard to stop eating them. Dr. Fazzino reveals the documented connection between Big Tobacco and Big Food, and why our current food environment might be more manipulated than we think. If you've ever felt like certain foods are literally irresistible, this episode will change the way you see your pantry. Sign up for our newsletter here! For weekly episodes, come join the Foodie Fam! Check out our book ! Chat with us on IG @foodweneedtotalk ! Be friends with Juna on Instagram and Tiktok ! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You can listen to How Tobacco Companies Engineered Your Food Cravings online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How Tobacco Companies Engineered Your Food Cravings is an episode from Food, We Need To Talk by Juna Gjata.

This episode is 39:21 long.

This episode was published on Aug 4, 2025.

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