Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Written by Michael Moss

Narrated by Scott Brick

The No.1 New York Times Bestseller

In China, for the first time, the people who weigh too much now outnumber those who weigh too little. In Mexico, the obesity rate has tripled in the past three decades. In the UK over 60 per cent of adults and 30 per cent of children are overweight, while the United States remains the most obese country in the world.

We are hooked on salt, sugar and fat. These three simple ingredients are used by the major food companies to achieve the greatest allure for the lowest possible cost. Here, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss exposes the practices of some of the most recognisable (and profitable) companies and brands of the last half century. He takes us inside the labs where food scientists use cutting-edge technology to calculate the 'bliss point' of sugary drinks. He unearths marketing campaigns designed - in a technique adapted from the tobacco industry - to redirect concerns about the health risks of their products, and reveals how the makers of processed foods have chosen, time and again, to increase consumption and profits, while gambling with our health.

Are you ready for the truth about what's in your shopping basket?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House UK Audio
• Release date: Oct 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9780753550939

Michael Moss

Michael Moss works in the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute and/or the Information Services Planning Unit of Glasgow University, UK.

Reviews for Salt, Sugar, Fat

[kemilyh1988 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great; I haven't stopped eating Oreo's and Cheez-Its, but this book at least informed me on why I should consider stopping.

[lucaconti-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

amazing book, it will change Your life.

[addunn3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting read, and a bit scary. The author details the use of these three substances in our foods and why it has been so difficult to curb their use.

[kmajort · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like "Supersize ME" you learn some things you don't really want to know.....

[annhepburn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very thought-provoking book that reminded me of some things I knew, but are easily forgotten. It's not a treatise against salt sugar and fat in general -- it's more about the insidious nature of processed food. Seeing inside of these companies, with first-person accounts from current and past staff members, gives this a unique perspective on the issue. The author is very objective, fair and balanced in his narrative.

I found both the facts about human gastronomy equally as interesting as the history of marketing and the interesting beginnings of our largest food production companies.

Very recommended -- but in small doses. It's a bit much to take in all at once, but I enjoyed reading one chapter per day over the last few weeks.

[iambookish-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an eye opening book! Everyone in America should read this book and become more aware of what is in the foods we are purchasing in the grocery store. We are fatter because the process foods we eat have increased the amounts of salt, sugar and fats they put in those convenience foods we all buy. It's frightening and I won't be shopping at the grocery the same way again.

[paulrx04 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good, and accurate,, ALL True

[zbaxter-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a little breathless in places, but presented a mix of solid research, interview background and narrative that was, I thought, mostly successful. Rather than structure by timeline, Moss splits the book up into the three areas - the sugar, fat and salt - of the title, and introduces a story about their introduction as a key additive for the American diet, and their rise as a superstar. Woven into the story is the tale of our (sometimes treacherous) tastebuds, the drive of big business to make profit and get us hooked on their food, and a tiny amount of social roles of food in shaping and determining food popularity.
I feel as though the split narrative meant that some parts had to be repeated, and that the emphasis of each component was diminished by the need to make each new section's lead character be portrayed as the biggest problem. This detracted from a nuanced picture of the triple-pronged role of these food components in the overall narrative Moss was constructing.
Having said that, his discussion of lunchables (which appears in all three sections) is a tour de force of deconstructing the variables that come into play when talking about factors such as consumer repeat buying, offloading cheap and declining-in-popularity foods, the combination of sugar/fat/salt, our desire to 'play' with and control our food (even if packaged) and the need of big business to reduce costs while increasing sales. Worth reading, but you may, like me, get frustrated at the lack of a clear timeline and the occasional repetition.

[tigerlms · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How did I not get a review of this fantastic book published before today? I had the fantastic good luck to read this book in galley proof and was absolutely blown away by what Michael Moss found out about the processed food industry. In the non-fiction book, Moss uses his investigative reporting skills to detail how the food giants have very skillfully and purposefully manipulated what goes into our food to serve up incredibly unhealthy doses of salt, sugar, and fat. The food industry has known about the dangers of driving people to obesity for decades, Moss reports, and some in the food industry warned -- internally, at least -- that the penalties to the food producers would be significantly greater than the billions the tobacco industry had to pay for its knowing complicity in hiding the dangers of nicotine. In separate sections of the book, Moss outlines how the food giants have manipulated salt, sugar, and fat to find the perfect combination-- the 'bliss point' -- of food that will make consumers crave more and more of their product, regardless of the repurcussions. It's not all gloom and doom, however. Moss shows how some in the industry, along with a few outsiders pushing for reform, have attempted to bring about change. This is an important work that deserves a place on the shelf of books for health classes in schools, and an important read for the larger (in every sense of the word) population.

[audacity88_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Unlike Michael Pollan's books, this one didn't leave me with any new insights. I can believe the food industry has tricked us into buying unhealthy stuff, but I already knew that their concoctions were unhealthy, so I didn't gain any actionable insights from reading this.

[4daisies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone who is at all concerned about their health and how processed foods contribute to our current health crisis should read this book. It is a real eye opener and I hope it makes us all wiser in the choices we make in the grocery stores of America

[jeremy_palmer_40 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Read just about half of it. Narrative is not particularly interesting to me. Should have been much shorter, in my opinion.

[pattylee-621744 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written exposé that should be required reading in high school and everywhere. So it really is true- you are what you eat. Mega corporations profit billions by slowly killing those who eat its products- and causing a monumental health care crisis more serious and more costly than heroin or cigarettes or alcohol. The target is all of us and our children,

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Food manufacturing expose/nonfiction. Lots of insider stories from former Food Manufacturer employees (chemists, researchers, marketing, even higher executives), plus some evidence that these three components--when taken in the incredibly high amounts included in the packages--are potentially addictive and, all too often, disastrous to your health. Also some about government/USDA's historical role in the promotion of such additives. While many of the experimental studies themselves haven't been conducted to satisfy basic standards of science (a sample size greater than, say, a mere dozen people), the reactions and testimonies of the food execs, along with many of their reformed diets (following advice from their doctors) are telling enough.

[daphneh-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a must read for anyone concerned about their health and diet.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I suspect that if you are a certain age, you can track your life against the foods discussed in this book. Sugary cereals and Hungryman dinners in the 1970s and early 1980s, then giving your kids Lunchables and Capri Sun juice bags. And maybe when you were an adult, you weren't completely sucked in and knew that these things weren't the best options, but "it's only once in a while." (In my case, Capri Sun took over my kids' lives - they had them with their lunches, they had them at soccer practices, after games, at parties ....) And you might expect that you'll be made to feel terrible for how you ate or how you fed your kids. But let's be real - you already feel bad enough about that. This book isn't looking to make you feel worse. It's looking to make you more aware of how exactly you got sucked into using all those foods against your better judgment.It's fascinating, really. The book covers the processes of creating these foods and the advertising that sells it to us, as well as the science behind why we crave them. It was interesting to me to hear how the industry and its scientists started off with non-evil intent (preserving foods to make them more easily available no matter where you lived, and decreasing the amount of labor required to feed a family) and eventually became a monster (cereals that are 70% sugar). I liked that the author kept from demonizing the scientists who worked on these foods, too. Often, their inventions either got away from them or they simply became wrapped up in a scientific problem without seeing where it was leading outside of their lab. I didn't learn anything here to change my eating habits (I did that years ago), but I did learn plenty. You'll never watch a commercial or read the front of a food package the same way again.

[michigantrumpet_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sobering examination of commercial food's hyperutilization of sugar, salt and fat, intentionally aimed at increasing the products' addictive hold and increasing sales. Michael Moss compellingly details how corporate bottom lines override the consequences to customers' health and well being. Shocking to learn just how much more sugar, salt and fat has been added over the years to products than what I remembered as a kid. Read this book and you will look at food marketing and processed foods with a jaundiced eye.

[fighterofevil · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

finally, finished this book.

[csweder · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is packed with facts.

At least I think they are facts. All of the authors citations are inconveniently at the end of the book. There isn't any indication while reading that the author is telling facts or opinion....which is annoying (I prefer directive foot or end notes so I can tell exactly what facts are coming from where).

But in the book is a pretty scary story that I do believe is true. All of our (processed) food is stripped of its nutritional values to increase profit for companies, extend shelf life, and get us to eat more.

[katesherrod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For me, this was just another booster shot in my efforts to inoculate myself against processed foods. I had stayed pretty far from Michael Pollan's good advice to "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." I can't call this book eye opening because I've read many of its kind, but I will say it's an excellent example of its kind. Now excuse me, I have a batch of homemade granola in the oven.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a deeply interesting book about how, in order to maximise profits our food has been tailored to be as close to addictive as makes little or no difference and this has caused huge problems with health and other issues. There are also huge problems with research on nutrition and food being mostly conducted or supported by big food conglomerates, making it difficult to get research that is for the well-being of people and not the well-being of a corporation.It made me think a lot about the foods I eat and how I should help myself. It asks more questions than it answers and one of the most interesting things he does is talk about the diets of some of the executives and senior scientists.

[klburnside · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some interesting parts, but somewhat boring and repetitive.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a guided trip through grocery story and down memory lane of advertising and marketing. It is presented as a straightforward story of how the processed food companies have sold us the goods over the years by designing "food" that we wanted and needed on a psychological level. I read this two years after starting to eat less processed food and sugar ... so this book fits my mindset very well. Just eat real food and forget the processed xxxx that is being marketed to you. Interesting comparison to big tobacco techniques through Kraft, it seems obvious that tobacco isn't good for you. But food should be good for you, right?

[dchaikin_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

15. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (Audio CD) by Michael Moss, read by Scott Brick (2012, 480 pages in paper form, listened Jan 29 - Mar 10)A business history covering things like Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, the history of cereal and how it only kicked off by making it unhealthy, the why of processed cheese, the insane marketing involved in all the food success stories and a deep look into the conundrum of the processed industry. Moss has great disturbing stories to tell, and fascinating people to interview. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this (Some readers may be turned off by Scott Brick's tone, so be sure to sample before you commit to audio...but then I liked how he read).That conundrum - sure, all the big food processing companies are out to make money and happy to make the US and the world ill in the process. But what is strange is that whenever some kind of healthy urge sparks up somewhere, and food companies try cutting back on the salt, sugar and fat, the first thing they notice is that they start to lose market share, and quickly revert. Also, it's worth nothing that without salt, fat and sugar, there isn't much left to processed foods - just tasteless, textureless stuff. The most disturbing thing - how food works so much like an addictive drug and how processed food companies survive by making us addicted to their foods - especially the salt and sugar - and how they are able to design foods we can't stop eating - and the irony of the trouble this causes them when consumers start avoiding the foods they know will lead them to overeat. Of course, it's no surprise that none of the corporate, marketing or scientific experts interviewed eat processed food.

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is such an eye-opener! So many things I already knew or suspected are laid out in black and white with supporting evidence about how the food corporations are ignoring the health and welfare of customers for the bottom line. What did come as a surprise is how the food companies and cigarette companies became allies either by coming under a common parent company or by utilizing each other's strategies to overcome the public's fear of ingredients in their products.I think this book will help me in my fight for better health by changing my shopping habits. I will be better able to ignore the chip displays and easily stride past the shelves of soda to get the unprocessed foods I know are better for me. I just needed the positive reinforcement!

[goet0095 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A tough but important read about the processed food industry and how it has made Americans dependent upon salt, sugar and fat. It was really discouraging to read about all of the techniques food companies employ to encourage people to continue buying their products through their use of ingredients and advertising...and how successful it is, especially with children.
This book was eye-opening; I always knew that processed food wasn't nutritious, but now I have more specific facts that will make me more aware about my food choices when I'm at the grocery store. One of the most surprising tidbits was about cheese--Americans consume about 33 pounds of cheese per person each year. Much of this is because food companies have changed cheese into an ingredient--something you add to a dish, instead of something that you'd eat on its own.
There was a lot of overwhelming information in this book, but the author tied it up nicely at the end with a few ideas about how we can fix this problem.

[dms02 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

5 stars...but I am a sucker for books on the food industry especially when they include marketing. Great book - a good audio book too. If you are constantly reading labels and buying local and organic and cook from scratch you will know most of what is in here...read it as a pat on the back. If you don't know the issues and politics involved in enticing shoppers to buy and consume crap food - pick this up.

Large companies just looking to improve bottoms lines at your health expense. Be amazed at what the government has done to support the madness (hello dairy cooperative) and then decide if that crazy hippie is really the wacky one!

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read from March 28 to December 31, 2013While it took me MONTHS to finish this book, I still think EVERYONE should it. It made me MUCH more aware of the problems with what most of us choose to eat and how little the government really regulates anything.I mean, read this book. You'll want a nutritionist, too.Reading Progress05/12/2013 page 21 4.0%08/04/2013 21.0% "I read a chapter, but then have to stop because I'm so frustrated by the food industry."12/22/2013 page 116 27.0% "I wish this ebook had links to the ads for these super sugary cereals."12/22/2013 page 163 38.0% "Now onto the evils of fat."12/23/2013 page 199 47.0% "I gotta stop eating anything that's even a little processed."12/26/2013 page 279 65.0% "After that chapter I want Oreos and I am disgusted with my desire. Now onto the evils of salt!"12/31/2013 page 423 100.0% "Do now I need a book on avoiding all processed foods and meats that might have additives and well...anything that's bad for me. I think I need a nutritionist."12/31/2013 marked as: read

[pbirch01 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I originally was supposed to review this book for Early Reviewers, but the book never showed up in the mail. I am glad I later tracked it down since I felt like it was very well-written and brought some interesting points to an area where people seem quite familiar with the subject matter.I felt that Moss was very even-keeled and did not come off as too argumentative or overly focused on avoiding certain brands. I felt like he had excellent points and good examples of how the food industry uses additives to sell more products. Many people are aware that overconsumption of anything can be detrimental to health and this book helps to elucidate and elaborate some of the reasons to avoid overconsumption.

[mazeway · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Engaging look at how the processed food industry makes their products nearly irresistible. I applaud Moss's ability to keep this from being a polemic, allowing the reader to draw her own conclusions. His industry research is fascinating. His science is a bit shoddy at times, still clinging to the outdated Lipid Hypothesis and some odd notions about sugar, but it's worthwhile nonetheless.