Salt Sugar Fat

“The grocery store icons they had invented in a more innocent era–the soda and chips and TV dinners–had been imagined as occasional fare. It was society that had changed, changed so dramatically that these snacks and convenience foods had become a daily–even hourly–habit, a staple of the American diet.”

Food scientists revolutionized the American diet. Their application of chemistry at first assisted Americans, but cultural changes made these foods into a serious harm. The social context of food matters as much as the ingredients.

“More than half of American adults were now considered overweight, with nearly one-quarter of the population–40 million adults–carrying so many extra pounds that they were clinically defined as obese. Among children, the rates had more than doubled since 1980, the year when the fat line on the charts began angling up, and the number of kids considered obese had shot past 12 million.”

Here, Moss discusses the sudden onset of the obesity epidemic. Moss blames the food industry for the severe health problems that began in 1980. He claims that food companies market manipulatively, including to children, in order to sell more of their harmful ingredients.

“The reality was that behind the scenes, having resolved to ignore obesity, the CEOs and their companies picked up right where they had left off, using, in some cases, more salt, more sugar, and more fat to edge out the competition.”

In a secret meeting of food executives, Kraft vice-president Michael Mudd raises the notion of food companies making their recipes healthier. However, most manufacturers place profit over health. Moss accuses the food companies of repeatedly choosing profit over health.