This Halloween, John Oliver Explains How the Sugar Industry Is Killing Us With Lies


This Halloween, Americans are gearing up to spend a whopping $2.2 billion in candy supplies, according to the latest Last Week Tonight. But how much sugar do we consume on the regular? That’s where it gets a bit murky, thanks to the sugar industry’s sweet little lies.

In light of Big Sugar’s deception tactics, John Oliver breaks it down for us: We take in nearly 75 pounds of sugar annually or, as he expertly describes, “Michael Cera’s weight in sugar ever year.”

Gross, but it’s not exactly our fault, considering a disturbing amount of our food’s sugar content is hidden from us.

“Regardless of whether sugar is terrible for you or the answer to all of life’s problems, shouldn’t you at least get to know when it’s been added to your food?” Oliver asked. After all, sugar is a leading contributor to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Last night, Oliver presented a rather festive solution to all this in the form of circus peanuts, “the most disgusting of all the candies.” Watch below:

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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