John Oliver celebrates Halloween by taking down Big Sugar

John Oliver celebrates Halloween by taking down Big Sugar
(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

Americans will spend $2.2 billion on Halloween candy this year, John Oliver said on Sunday night's Last Week Tonight, and that's hardly a blip in the amount of sugar we consume. We all love sugar, he said, but that's partly because it affects our brain in a similar way to cocaine.

If you watch below, you'll learn that the average American eats 75 pounds of sugar a year — much of it hidden in foods — that sugar addles the brains of (at least) rats, that some researchers are on the take, that somebody is selling a "Sexy John Oliver" costume, that Oliver hates cranberries, and that he does a better impression of a rat than Al Pacino. Oliver's cause this week is to support the FDA's attempt to make food manufacturers list how much sugar they add to food — a proposal being fought tooth and nail by Big Sugar and food companies of all stripes. His cause is good; his proposed method is kind of disgusting. That's probably the point. --Peter Weber

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.