During the research for his bestseller The Bitter Truth on Sugar, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery: our quest for happiness is disturbed by dependence, addiction and depression - a cultural development that seems irreversible. In Brainwashed, the bestselling author deals with our hormone-controlled perception of happiness and shows how these biochemical processes can be actively influenced from the outside - a method that the large food companies in particular are taking advantage of. With targeted advertising, they manipulate our needs and influence our sense of happiness. The decisive messengers for our sense of happiness are dopamine and serotonin. Only when both are in the right relationship are we balanced and really happy. Dopamin stands for reward. If our brain pours too much of it out, it leads to one.