Salt Sugar Fat – Michael Moss

“Salt Sugar Fat” is an impeccably researched indictment of the processed food industry in the United States. Critically acclaimed, and a #1 New York Times bestseller, this book exposes the truth about how processed foods are packed full of salt, sugar, and fat, and contribute to the growing obesity problem in the country.

Many of our health problems in the US stem from our abundant supply of cheap, highly processed, calorie-rich food. The companies that manufacture these foods purposely manipulate them to stimulate our innate biological desires to eat more. They work on their formulas to come up with the optimal levels of fat and sugar that will cause more people to overeat, thus boosting their profit.

In this fascinating book, the author, Michael Moss, discusses how companies discovered decades ago that adding sugar to products caused people to eat more and buy more. Since then, they have steadily raised the sugar levels in everything from breakfast cereals to soft drinks, all in an attempt to gain market share. Consumer health suffers as a result, but that is not a big concern for corporate decision makers.

Moss is a Pulitzer Prize winning author, winning that recognition in 2010 after investigating and writing about the health dangers of contaminated meat. With “Salt Sugar Fat,” he turns his investigative and journalism skills to our country’s enormously profitable processed food industry.

Moss began by looking into how and why companies were purposely adding salt to their products. He gained access to senior executives, and treasure troves of internal records. He discovered that our food industry is aggressively adding salt, sugar and fat to our foods in order to increase consumption. Not only do they appeal to our innate biological needs, but they also cover up less desirable flavors that the manufacturing process creates. Cheap and easy for food companies to add, these ingredients help to create foods that can sit on a supermarket shelf for weeks or months. All of this adds up to larger profits for the corporations.

The book is powerfully written, and readers will be astounded by some of the shocking facts and revelations in it. The story of how Americans have been purposely seduced by the giant food companies is chilling. Executives openly admitted that their only concern is maximizing corporate profits. Adding salt, sugar and fat to their products is a way of enticing consumers to eat more, adding to the US obesity epidemic, and the company’s bottom line.

Though the book focuses on the processed food industry and how it manipulates us to be less healthy, the author does not see this as an inescapable endpoint. Readers will be more aware of food contents and marketing messages, and better able to make informed decisions about what to eat. There is a way to a better future, and this informative book gives readers tips on how to buy and eat healthier foods. By the end of the book, you realize that the processed food companies have changed not just how we eat and what we eat, but they have also changed our lives and our society.