Mind the food : the traps of the mind and the value of facts

What influences our food choices? The taste of food, the satisfaction it generates and its caloric intake aren't the only factors involved in our decisions. In fact, other more complex and even insidious factors come into play affecting our judgement -- think brown sugar against white sugar, or vegetables against meat --, and trick us into thinking that these are the healthiest choices towards everyone's goal: living a longer life. However, our choices are often manipulated by urban legends circulating on television, the web, the press or, if we want to find an inner reason, dictated by our brain's functioning, often misled by wrong information spread with authoritativeness or conditioned by past emotional experiences. So, as the GMO debate is in full swing, we eat fruit, vegetables and cereals produced by radiation-induced genetic mutations. Perhaps we prefer to buy the so-called "light" butter, which contains preservatives instead of fats and is not suitable for frying or cooking, rather than using traditional butter in smaller quantities. Starting from similar evidence playing a part in our unconscious daily choices, we will show how the human brain can easily be tricked and how it becomes essential to be aware of facts and read data to escape the cognitive biases disguised under communication and marketing strategies, in order to prevent our instinct and emotions from taking the lead.