Wellness Unmasked: Breaking Big Food—How Big Tobacco Took Over America’s Food Supply

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

iHeartPodcasts

Politics, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Daily News

4.5 • 11.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if the biggest threat to your health isn’t just what you eat—but who controls it? On this episode of Wellness Unmasked, Dr. Nicole Saphier sits down with filmmakers Patrick and Ashley Sullivan, creators of the new documentary Breaking Big Food: How the American Food System Went Rotten—and How It’s Being Revived. After a personal health scare, the Sullivans set out to uncover the truth behind America’s food industry—and what they found is shocking. From Big Tobacco quietly acquiring major food companies in the 1980s and 90s, to the explosion of ultra-processed foods and thousands of “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) chemicals in our food supply, this conversation pulls back the curtain on how we got here. They also break down: The hidden history of Big Tobacco’s influence on Big Food Why U.S. food standards differ dramatically from Europe and Canada The rise of seed oils, additives, and ultra-processed ingredients The truth about glyphosate, pesticides, and regulatory loopholes Surprising sources of toxins—including coffee and everyday “health foods” Simple, practical tips to avoid harmful ingredients at the grocery store How local farming, consumer choices, and grassroots movements are driving change Plus, the inspiring story behind their clean food initiative and how communities are taking health back into their own hands—one backyard, one market, and one purchase at a time. 🎧 Breaking Big Food is now streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. If you care about what’s really in your food—and what you can do about it—this is a must-listen episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wellness Sunmas. I'm Dr. Nicole Sapphire, and today we're pulling back the curtain on something that affects every American family, mine, yours, all of us, the food on our plates. For decades, we were told big tobacco was the villain, and it took us decades to kind of get rid of them. Well, we didn't really get rid of them. They're still around. What if I told you the same corporate playbook, the same executives, the same manipulation tactics,
0:26.3	the same addiction science, quietly migrated from Big Tobacco into Big Food? My guest today,
0:34.3	Patrick and Ashley Sullivan, expose exactly how big tobacco helped engineer
0:39.0	modern big food designing ultra-process products to hijack our brain chemistry, distort public policy,
0:46.3	and keep consumers hooked. Now, this isn't about personal willpower. It's about corporate
0:51.4	strategy, regulatory capture, and the health crisis unfolding in
0:56.1	plain sight. Let's talk about it. We have a beautiful couple, Patrick and Ashley Sullivan. They are
1:01.4	the Maha-inspired filmmakers behind a brand new documentary called Breaking Big Food, now streaming on Apple TV
1:07.9	and Amazon Prime. And I am so excited for this conversation because you guys uncovered a lot in this documentary,
1:15.2	right?
1:16.2	We sure did.
1:17.3	It was a very eye-opening experience for us, right, Patrick?
1:21.3	Yeah, I mean, the full title, Breaking Big Food, How the American Food System Went Rotten,
1:26.9	and How It's being revived.
1:28.9	So tell me a little bit about it. First of all, your background. What even made you want to do this?
1:35.0	Well, in 2014, I got a thyroid cancer diagnosis and decided to go at that time the traditional route of getting a thyroid
1:46.4	ectomy, having the cancer removed, and quite frankly, Nicole, it was so stressful hearing
1:52.4	the words you have cancer that after the surgery, Ashley and I really kind of buried that
1:58.1	for a while.
1:59.1	And, you know, frankly, I think we just didn't know enough about food labels and ingredients
2:05.7	and about the environmental toxins that were out there that when we began to research this film,
2:13.8	and really the inspiration came from hearing Callie Means speak at a conference in the summer of 2024.
	...

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