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This week, BJ is joined by Dr. Robert Lustig. A Professor emeritus of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology at UCSF, and the author of numerous books you should read, including The Hacking of the American Mind, which is the subject of this week's interview. Dr. Lustig had a lot to say about the power corporations wield over us, Citizens United, and why you should cut as much sugar from your diet as you can. That's because, like the end result of Citizens United, sugar could kill you. Politically speaking of course.
Creators and Guests
Host
Rosie Tran
Rosie Tran is one of the fastest rising stars in the entertainment business! Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she moved to Hollywood to pursue her career as a professional entertainer. The stand up comedian, writer, podcast personality, and actress has toured internationally, at comedy clubs, colleges, and overseas for the USO in Europe and the Middle East.
Editor
Andrew
I am the Editor of all things on the Stupid Sexy Privacy Podcast.
What is Stupid Sexy Privacy?
Stupid Sexy Privacy is a miniseries about how to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. Your host is comedian Rosie Tran, and the show is written by information privacy expert B.J. Mendelson. Every episode is sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo. Tune in every Thursday night βor Friday morning if you're nasty β at 12 am EST to catch the next episode.
00:00
Hey, here's a joke. Knock knock. It's Google Chrome, and I don't need to ask who's there. I already know it's you. I know your search history, your email address, location, device settings, even your financial and medical data. Wow, that's not funny. Now I'm definitely switching to DuckDuckGo. That's smart. If you use Google Search or Chrome, your personal information is probably exposed. And that's no laughing matter. The free DuckDuckGo browser
00:26
protects your personal information from hackers, scammers, and data-hungry companies. DuckDuckGo has a search engine built in, but unlike Google, it never tracks your searches. And you can browse like on Chrome, but it blocks most cookies and ads that follow you around. DuckDuckGo is built for data protection, not data collection. That's why it's used by millions to search and browse online. Don't wait. Download the free DuckDuckGo browser today.
00:53
visit DuckDuckGo.com or wherever you get your apps. Welcome to another edition of Stupid Sexy Privacy. A podcast mini series sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo. I'm your host, Rosie Tran. You may have seen me on Rosie Tran Presents, which is now available on Amazon Prime. And I'm your co-producer, Andrew VanVooris. With us, as always, is Bonzo the Snow Monkey.
01:21
I'm pretty sure that's not what a Japanese Macau sounds like. Oh, it's not. Not even close. Let's hope there aren't any zoologists listening. That was fairly simple. A lot of people think they're born better than others. I'm trying to prove it's the way you're raised that counts. But even a monkey brought up in the right surroundings can learn the meaning of decency and honesty. OK, I'm also pretty sure that's not what a snow monkey sounds like.
01:48
Over the course of this mini-series, we're going to offer you short, actionable tips to protect your data, your privacy, and yourself from fascists and weirdos. These tips were sourced by our fearless leader. He really hates when we call him that. BJ Mendelson. Episodes 1 through 33 were written a couple years ago. But since a lot of that advice is still relevant, we thought it would be worth sharing again for those who missed it. And if you have heard these episodes before, you should know we've gone back and updated a bunch of them.
02:15
even adding some brand new interviews and privacy tips along the way. That's right. So before we get into today's episode, make sure you visit StupidSexyPrivacy.com and subscribe to our newsletter. This way you can get updates on the show and be the first to know when new episodes are released in 2026. And if you sign up for the newsletter, you'll also get a free PDF and mp3 copy of BJ and Amanda King's new book, How to Protect Yourself from Bastions and Weirdos.
02:43
All you have to do is visit stupidsexyprivacy.com. Stupidsexyprivacy.com. That's what I just said. Stupidsexyprivacy.com. I know, but repetition is key to success. You know what else is? What? Bonzo, eat your pablum like a good boy, and pretty soon you'll grow up to be a big, strong, handsome man just like your daddy. Then you'll have Swedish pancake too.
03:09
I'm really glad the show isn't on YouTube because they pull it down like immediately. I know Google sucks. And on that note, let's get to today's privacy tip. Dr. Robert Lustig is a professor emeritus of pediatrics division of endocrinology at UCSF and is the author of numerous books you should read, including The Hacking of the American Mind, which is the subject of this week's interview.
03:39
Dr. Lustig had a lot to say about the power corporations wield over us, Citizens United, and why you should cut as much sugar from your diet as you can. Take it away, BJ. Robert, would you like to take a moment to introduce yourself to our audience? Sure. My name is Rob Lustig. I am a pediatric endocrinologist. I'm an emeritus professor pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. And I uh study uh metabolism, obesity, diabetes, nutrition.
04:08
and neuroscience. Yeah, I think your books have been really eye opening. Hacking the American Mind is something that I've gone back to a number of times. And I feel like you've had this wonderful way of explaining Lewis Powell and Citizens United ah that I haven't heard before, that I haven't encountered. And so before we get to that, ah you have this great breakdown of the difference between marketing and propaganda.
04:37
And it's something we talk a lot about a lot on this show. And I was just loving, I was just hoping you may be able to share with us what, how you distinguish between the two. Sure. Very simple. Um, for your audience, you know, they sound similar. What's the difference between marketing and propaganda? Marketing is using information to espouse your point of view. Propaganda is using disinformation to espouse your point of view. The difference is the truth.
05:08
When you. The truth. Your marketing. When you don't. That's propaganda. You want people to believe something that is not so. That's propaganda. um And unfortunately, demagogues and politicians use it all the time. And, know, it unfortunately is buyer beware in this situation because no one.
05:36
seems to be able to call the propagandists on the truth. Right. And I found one of the things that one of reasons why I wanted to speak with you is I found there was such an overlap between the tactics of Big Sugar and the tactics of Big Tech, know, Facebook, Amazon. Within the context of marketing versus propaganda, is there an example that comes to mind in terms of Big Sugar? Well, yeah, for one, they say a calorie is a calorie.
06:04
which is not true. mean, it's patently untrue because it has to do with number one absorption has to do with metabolism. It has to do with mitochondria. Turns out glucose is metabolized, you know, to carbon dioxide and ATP and mitochondria. Proctose is not. Proctose gets turned into fat. You know, they are not the same. So every time a food and food company, uh it doesn't matter who.
06:32
you know, says the word calories, that's propaganda all by itself. In addition, in the same way that the tobacco companies stood up in front of Congress and said that they did not believe that nicotine was addictive, even though they had done the studies to demonstrate it, that was propaganda. the fact is we have the data that sugar is addictive. And of course, they will never admit to that, even though we have the data. So, you know, when they
07:01
When they market their product and tell you that it is a, quote, healthy alternative, I would say that is pretty much propaganda. Right. And have you found have you seen the overlap of big tech using the same tactics as Big Sugar? um Well, sort of sort of. I mean, we have this notion that somehow AI is going to solve our problems. And the only people who are saying it are the people in AI.
07:30
And they have absolutely no data to demonstrate that AI is going to solve any problems. yeah, I you know, I suppose the optimist can say that's wishful thinking and the pessimist can say that's propaganda. Well, I'm a pessimist. Right. And we talk a lot about the detrimental health effects of technology companies, of big tech, of using AI or abusing AI. When it comes to big
07:58
sugar, I'm curious if you might be able to highlight some of the detrimental effects of sugar consumption for mental health. uh there are four basic mechanisms by which sugar can affect mental health adversely. Four. So I'll do them in order, but um you know, there's a little science involved in understanding them. I'll do my best to, you know, bring it.
08:27
down to lay people's level. So the first is energy. Energy inside neurons. Now, neurons are the most energy intensive cells in the body. Think of it this way. Your brain is only 2 % of your body's weight, but it chews through 20 % of your body's energy supply. So the brain consumes 10 times more energy than
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any other organ in the body because neurotransmission is energy expensive. Well, as I just mentioned, fructose, that sweet molecule in sugar, the molecule we seek, the molecule we crave, addictive. And it just so happens because it is not metabolized the same way by mitochondria. It actually inhibits three enzymes in the mitochondria that help generate
09:26
chemical energy your cells need called ATP. Parctose inhibits ATP generation. Well, that makes you have brain fog, irritability, cognitive dysfunction. And we think that neuroenergetics is the primary driver of dementia. Okay, so that's one. Number two, uh glutamate and GABA. Now these are two neurotransmitters. They're chemicals that the
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brain uses to send information. Now glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Okay? Now normally glutamate to GABA ratios are somewhere between one to one and three to one.
10:13
Turns out glutamate gets turned into GABA. There's three enzymes that basically take glutamate, which is the precursor, and turns it into GABA, which is the product in different neurons. And so those three enzymes that help convert glutamate to GABA are pretty darn important. Well, it out fructose, that sweet molecule, I'm sure you're the one we keep talking about, inhibits an enzyme called glutamine synthase.
10:43
And so studies have shown that in the presence of fructose, there's more glutamate and less GABA. So there's more excitation, i.e. irritability, and less inhibition, i.e. rest and calm, which is kind of how patients on sugar binges feel. So that's number two. Number three, trophic factors.
11:12
There are certain proteins, certain peptides that help cells extend synapses, extend, sorry, dendrites and axons so they can form synapses and also trophic factors that help cells survive. Okay. One of the main ones is called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF. This is what exercise works on. This is why exercise is good for your brain is because it helps build BDNF.
11:42
Another one that's important is leptin. Leptin is the adiposity hormone. Well, turns out leptin resistance is part and parcel of fructose consumption. So the more sugar, the more leptin resistance. And leptin also keeps neurons um happy and intact. So sugar basically induces leptin resistance, which causes problems in terms of um
12:11
neurogenesis and neurodegeneration. And then fourth one is the microbiome. So you have, send signals from your GI tract up to your brain. Now some of those signals go via the blood and some of them go via a nerve that connects the gut to the brain called the afferent vagus nerve. Fructose basically inhibits both problem, both, both transport systems. They inhibits the blood transport system.
12:40
by causing systemic inflammation in the gut. And it also inhibits the afferent vagus by reducing the amount of serotonin that can be transported up from the gut up to the brain. So there are many mechanisms by which sugar could lead to mental health issues. And now we have the empiric evidence that the consumption of sugar is directly correlated with
13:10
depression, dementia, and several other mental health disorders. Now, do we have proof of causation? And the answer is not yet. We're working on that. it certainly all the data point in that direction. I just cannot say it as a, you know, a given. Right. And so this is why I thought it was so important to speak with you because we have a product here that
13:40
we believe could be could be bad or could have these these effects. And we have this gentleman, Lewis Powell, who kind of sets the stage for Big Sugar and Big Tech later to sell these products. And so I was hoping you might be able to introduce us briefly to Lewis Powell. Oh, boy. OK, so for you historians out there, Lewis Powell was uh in the what what
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ultimately became the CIA. um Before World War Two was the OSS, Operation Special Services, ultimately turned into the CIA. um He became a lawyer, and he believed in secrecy to the ultimate nth degree. This was the non transparency lawyer. Okay, he ended up becoming the lawyer to Big Tobacco. um
14:39
in Richmond, Virginia. And he ultimately sat on the Richmond School Board and prevented integration uh in Virginia way back when. Because of his work for the cigarette companies, Richard Nixon uh became a fan of his, and uh Nixon appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1971.
15:09
And so Lewis Powell sat on the Supreme Court for about 18 years. And before he was appointed though, he had written a famous memorandum, which became known as the Powell Memo, to, and he sent it to his friend who was the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And this was, again, 1971. And what it said in essence was,
15:37
Corporations are losing. People are winning and corporations are losing and corporations have to take America back. And he uh outlined a uh bullet point plan of things that the US private industry needed to do in order to basically usurp the
16:05
recently uh developed consumer power, you know, like, like, for instance, Ralph Nader, and, you know, you know, the consumer revolution of the 1960s. Remember, safe, you know, unsafe at any speed, all that stuff. So uh this, you know, if if if the US Senate had known about the Pal memo, when they confirmed him, he never would have been confirmed that they didn't know.
16:34
He ended up being appointed and he wreaked havoc. He was the key uh Supreme Court justice on a number of five to four decisions that have basically sort of turned over uh the concept of democracy. He was the original anti-democratic Supreme Court justice before anybody else. uh Buckley v. Valeo, Virginia versus Virginia pharmacy.
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uh Central Hudson, uh famous commercial speech uh case. uh He was the five to four decision. He was the uh tiebreaker on numerous decisions that took power away from people and gave them to uh industry corporations. Hey everyone, this is Amanda King, one of the co-hosts of Stupid Sexy Privacy.
17:30
These days, I spend most of my time talking to businesses and clients about search engine optimization, but that's not what this is about. I wanted to tell you a little bit about a book I've co-authored with BJ Mendelson called How to Protect Yourself from Fascists and Weirdos. And the title tells you pretty much everything you would want to know about what's in the book. And thanks to our friends at DuckDuckGo, we'll actually be able to give you this book for free in 2026.
18:00
All you need to do is go to the website stupidsexyprivacy.com and sign up to our newsletter. Again, that website is stupidsexyprivacy.com and then put your name in the box and sign up for our newsletter. We'll let you know when the book and the audiobook is ready because if you want a PDF copy that's DRM free, it's yours. And if you want an MP3 of the new audiobook, also DRM free,
18:29
you could get that too. Now, I've got to get out of here before Bonzo corners me because he doesn't think that SEO is real and I don't have the patience to argue with him because I got a book to finish. And we don't get to him without Citizens United. He paves the way, right, for Citizens United? Yes, well, right. Basically, uh all three of those oh cases that I just mentioned were the precursors to Citizens United. So obviously he had passed away.
18:58
long before Citizens United. mean, was sort of, Citizens United was the final death knell in the notion that corporations were under any sort of regulation. That basically deregulated every corporation of Citizens United. But we were leading up to that way before. And that's the end of Lewis Powell. I always try to explain to people it was a 50 year project.
19:26
that begins with loose power to allow for power with loose power. What's the example? It actually started in 1956. It started even earlier than that. But how was sort of the you he was the gas in the engine. Yeah, so you're linking it back. Yeah, I've seen people go back to Goldwater to say, yeah, Yeah. Let me what's an example of how how big sugar would let's say utilize the environment.
19:56
that Suzy's United has created? ah Well, basically campaign contributions. You know, there's no limit to campaign contributions. That's why we have, you know, all of these uh donors, you know, these billionaire donors, and they only give to the Republican Party for this reason. And also uh they can say whatever they want, you know, because they have, you know, corporate speeches, now private speech. You know, I don't know when, you know, I I
20:26
The idea that corporations are people is just unbelievably, you know, on its head. But there we are. You know, this is this is now the way America runs. And we have seen it over the past, you know, since United, which was 2010. We have seen it, you know, basically take over the last 15 years. And, you know, this is this, know, this is the new this is the new America that, you know, the Powell
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uh unfortunately envisioned. Right. And what's what's the example of how a corporation would have more power than the person? Money? Right? Yeah, right. Yeah. Also, you know, people get thrown in jail. But if you're a member of a corporation, basically, you don't get thrown in jail. That's right. So you have you have you have basically two different uh laws protecting you. have
21:23
the laws that protect you as a citizen, and you have the laws that protect you as a member of a corporation. You're sort of doubly protected. Nobody deserves that. Right. And it's sort of like the example you gave of, you know, is sugar a grass? It's currently categorized as a grass, even though it shouldn't be, right? Well, I mean, let's put it this way. In 1958, 170 items that were in food were
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grandfathered into this thing called grass, generally recognized as safe. Sugar was one of them. Now, back then, we didn't know what sugar did. We didn't know what it did to us. We didn't have the technology, the capacity to be able to figure it out. Also, back then, sugar consumption was about one third of what it is today. So we weren't seeing these diseases sort of popping up. We knew about heart disease, but you
22:20
the thing that was really driving heart disease was smoking back then. So the sugar signal was minimal compared to the tobacco signal. So nobody put sugar in uh that formula. uh If sugar were coming up for uh determination today, it would never pass. It wouldn't even be a food additive because the toxicity.
22:48
you know, so is so well uh laid out. Okay. The question is, what should sugar be? Should it be a poison? Should it be a food additive? Or should be food, you know, generally recognized as safe? And I think the answer is in the term added sugar, we call it added sugar, say food additive, we add it. Okay. And if we did that, there are rules for how much
23:18
added anything you can put in a given food stuff. So there should be rules about how much sugar you should be able to put in any given food stuff because it really is a food additive. And I would be very happy if that were the case. I don't necessarily need to call it poison because we all have an innate capacity to metabolize a small amount of sugar. Okay, same way we have an innate capacity to metabolize a small amount of
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alcohol and sugar and alcohol metabolize the same way. So the analogy is really quite good. Okay. And sugar causes the same diseases that alcohol causes because they both interfere with mitochondrial function the same way. So we haven't called alcohol a poison since 19, you know, 1929 with prohibition, which is when we called alcohol a poison. And then of course it got repealed, you know,
24:18
So in 1933, I guess it was 1919, was prohibition. And then 1933 was repealed. uh Plus we ended up with speakeasies. know, nobody wants to see ice cream soda speakeasies. That's not gonna happen. uh But the point is that uh alcohol is not considered a food. Alcohol is considered something else. Okay.
24:44
It's more like a food additive than it is a food and we keep it out of the hands of children for obvious reasons. Should sugar be a food additive? I think that, you know, like I said, added sugar sort of defines it. It's something you add. It's not a food in and of itself. But of course, you know, the industry would go absolutely berserk if we even remotely went there, which we're trying to do. But, you know, obviously
25:14
You know, the dark forces are at work here. Absolutely. And so my last question is hopefully on more optimistic note of just cooking. It's something that you close the book by suggesting. And I was just curious if you could share that with our listeners about the importance of cooking as a way to limit their sugar intake and maybe even have a more mindful activity. I mean, basically, when you buy a store bought item. What's in it?
25:44
You don't really know. You don't know what's in it. I mean, you have this thing on the side of the package, nutrition facts. So that tells you what's in it, but it actually doesn't really tell you what it does to you. So there's nutrition facts, which tells you about what's in the food. But what you really want to know is what's been done to the food. Food processing is really more important. Example, orange juice.
26:14
Now orange juice is made of oranges. Oranges are good for you. Even I agree oranges are good for you. They have vitamin C, right? But they have something much more important than vitamin C. They have fiber. Turns out the fiber is the food for your bacteria. In addition, the fiber limits the sugar absorption from the gut into the bloodstream, thus protecting your liver and improving your metabolism.
26:44
and so that your mitochondria don't go south. So the fiber in the orange is actually the good part of the fruit.
26:56
The juice has the fiber stripped away. So in essence, orange juice is soda.
27:07
little vitamin C. But in terms of its, you know, detriment, it's just as bad as soda. And we have the data to show that. So I always tell people eat the fruit, don't drink the juice. People say, why? What's the difference? Big difference, the fiber, the fiber is the difference. But the problem is, you can't see that on the side of the package. You can't see what they did to it. Now you happen to know because you know, everybody knows that you squeeze the orange and
27:36
throw the fiber in the garbage, you know, but the fact is that that nutrition facts label doesn't tell you what you need to know. There are these three terms and people bandy them about like they're the same thing and they're not. science, nutrition, metabolic health. They're not the same. Food science is what happens to food between the ground and the mouth. Nutrition is what happens to food between the mouth and the cell. Metabolic health is what happens inside the cell.
28:05
But the diseases that we're trying to ameliorate, uh type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian disease, chronic kidney disease, those diseases which currently account for 75 % of the entire US healthcare budget, eh the diseases of metabolic syndrome, those are the diseases of metabolic health because those are the diseases of mitochondria.
28:34
Those are happening inside the cell. And there's nothing on the nutrition facts label that tells you what any of the things inside the food will do to your mitochondria.
28:48
So that nutrition facts label is a piece of crap. It always was. Okay. It always was. But you know, that's what the food industry would allow back in 1990. During the nutrition labeling and education act of 1990. That's what they would allow. They didn't want you to know what they did to the food. That's not on the label. So we have a big problem.
29:15
because we're trying to get the information out to the public and we're actually kept from doing so. Yeah, which is why I wanted to speak with you. We're doing our part to hopefully inform people. Here we are.
29:31
There are two economies in America, one for the wealthy and one for you and me. And the one for you and me resembles what used to be called a third world country. These days, we more politely call them developing countries. And we should, because with the way things are going, those developing countries are soon going to kick our ass and offer things like universal health care coverage. So we know managing your privacy, data security, and anonymity can get expensive, which leads to the question.
29:56
What's the least you can do to get the most in protecting yourself from fascists and weirdos? We'd like to recommend the following. Use Signal for all text messaging with your friends, family, coworkers, and fellow protesters. Do not use WhatsApp. Use Bitwarden to manage your passwords. And last but not least, get the DuckDuckGo subscription plan.
30:15
For about $10 a month or around $100 a year, DuckDuckGo offers a solid VPN identity theft restoration protection, private access to advanced AI chat models, and a data removal service. These four items are often sold separately for way more than $100 a year. And $100 a year is way less than what you spend on virtually every streaming service.
30:36
You can sign up for DuckDuckGo subscription via the settings link in the DuckDuckGo browser available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. Or via the DuckDuckGo subscription website, DuckDuckGo.com slash subscriptions. The DuckDuckGo subscription is currently available to residents of the US, UK, EU, and Canada. Feature availability varies by region. But your peace of mind will not, because supporting companies like DuckDuckGo is one of the key ways we can defeat fascists and weirdos. Don't support companies that support fascists and weirdos, support DuckDuckGo instead.
31:09
you
31:14
This episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy was recorded in Hollywood, California. It was written by B.J. Mendelsohn, produced by Andrew Van Vorse, and hosted by me, Rosie Tran. And of course, our program is sponsored by our friends DuckDuckGo. If you enjoy the show, I hope you'll take a moment to leave us a review on PocketCast, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you may be listening. This won't take more than two minutes of your time, and leaving us a review will help other people find it.
31:39
We have a crazy goal of helping 5 % of Americans get 1 % better at protecting themselves from fascists and weirdo. Your reviews can help us reach that goal, since leaving one makes our show easier to find. So please take a moment to leave us a review and I'll see you right back here next Thursday at midnight. After you watch Rosie Tran Presents on Amazon Prime, right? Bonzo, I wish that you'll have many more birthdays just like this one. With those you love and trust around you always to share your happiness.
32:09
And I wish that you'll get a chance very soon to prove that being loved and looked after like a human being has made you feel like a human being. And that if love can do that to you, then it ought to be able to make some other human beings... human beings.