Salt Sugar Fat

By Michael Moss,

Book cover of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Salt Sugar Fat as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a deep investigative dive into the methods and practices global food corporations use to get us to buy and eat more – regardless of the health impacts on ourselves, families, and communities. 

It describes how companies use sophisticated neuroscience to stimulate overconsumption, create cravings, and ultimately distort eating habits. It gave me great insight into how our individual market choices are not simply a response to personal needs but are deeply manipulated by the science and practice of corporate marketing.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in food addiction. It addresses how the food industry deliberately engineers foods to be addictive—regardless of poor health outcomes. It will blow your mind to see how the food industry are drug pushers no different than any other drug dealers. 

From Vera's list on capturing sugar and food addiction.

Have you ever thought of our current food environment in terms of the tobacco companies? You will after reading this book. Moss goes behind the scenes of the industrialization of food to show how intentionally these companies have tried (and succeeded!) to get everyone addicted to their products. Although some of his other books are interesting too, this one had a huge impact on how I think about our food environment – and what that has done to lower our nutrient intake.

The latest government data shows how important this is: North Americans are now consuming ultra-processed products for more…

From Bonnie's list on improving your brain health.

I grew up at a time when the characters on cereal boxes had their own Saturday morning cartoon shows. Stuff like that was pioneered by packaged-food companies that were funding experiments to determine the perfect "bliss point" for how much sugar they could load into kid's mouths. Moss chronicles food companies' relentless push of "convenience" over health, from instant pudding to cake mixes, while fighting to minimize medical research into obesity, tooth decay, and other bad news. He tells about Betty Dickson, a healthy foods activist who gained traction in the 1950s persuading women to cook meals from scratch at…

From Don's list on how the world really works.

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