Book Review: “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss

• Conclusion
• 1. Summary
• 2. Book review
• • SUGAR
  • 2.1. Exploiting the Biology of the Child (p. 3)
  • 2.2. How Do You Get People to Crave? (p. 25)
  • 2.3. Convenience with a Capital "C" (p. 45)
  • 2.4. Is it Cereal or Candy? (p. 68)
  • 2.5. I Want to See a Lot of Body Bags (p. 95)
  • 2.6. A Burst of Fruity Aroma (p. 121)
  • FAT
  • 2.7. That Gooey, Sticky Mouthfeel (p. 145)
  • 2.8. Liquid Gold (p. 160)
  • 2.9. Lunchtime Is All Yours (p. 182)
  • 2.10. The Message the Government Conveys (p. 212)
  • 2.11. No Sugar, No Fat, No Sales (p. 236)
  • SALT
  • 2.12. People Love Salt (p. 267)
  • 2.13. The Same Great Salty Taste Your Customers Crave
  • 2.14. I Feel So Sorry for the Public (p. 302)
  • 2.15. We're Hooked on Inexpensive Food (p. 331)
• 3. Food industry and consumers (my own thoughts on the subject)
• 4. About the book

Michael Moss received a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 in the category Explanatory Reporting. Before this, he had been a finalist on two occasions. While writing the book, he worked as a journalist for The New York Times. He also received the Gerald Loeb Award for Food Safety (under the category Work) and a commendation from the Overseas Press Club (OPC). Here are links to the OPC and the OPC of America websites. Moss also taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia School of Journalism.

Michael Moss also wrote:

• the book Palace Coup,
• the article The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, which appeared in the magazine section of The New York Times,
• and a blog in The Huffington Post under the title Sugar Salt Fat.

Several years before Salt Sugar Fat appeared, the German book Lügen Lobbies Lebensmittel (Lies lobbies food) was published. This book focuses primarily on the situation in Europe. Please click on the link to go to the book review (currently only in German).

The images that I have added to this book review serve to break up the text and provide space for additional comments. The book Salt Sugar Fat itself doesn't contain any images. The images here are either from Wikipedia, from the public domain, or I took them myself. Entries on Wikipedia often lack objectivity. Representatives of specific industries also write many articles, and an account from the opposing point of view is often not possible.

You can enlarge each of the images by clicking on them—and also view all of the images as a slideshow.

After the prologue title “The Company Jewels,” there are three sections to the book: Sugar (6 chapters), Fat (5 chapters), and Salt (3 chapters).

The order of the topics is not the same as the title. There is an epilogue on page 331 titled “We're Hooked on Inexpensive Food.” And as is common in US books, numerous acknowledgments (starting on p. 349), information about the sources (starting on p. 353), and notes (starting on p. 357) are included. And then there is a selected bibliography starting on page 417 and a topical index from pages 423–446.

The article also discusses the traffic-light labeling system, which was successfully introduced in the UK. This system requires that there be a red, yellow, or green light next to the list of ingredients.

The German politician Ilse Aigner positioned herself against this type of solution. Instead, she wanted the EU to work on the problem. However, associations and multinational companies bombarded the politicians with calls, emails, and position papers and won.

The European Interessenverband Lebensmittelindustrie (food industry association) is believed to have spent a billion euros on this campaign.

I read this book on April 19, 2013, when our plane from Richmond to Dallas had to return to the airport because of a burning smell and we were stuck in the airport for a day. What a coincidence! My wife and I had stayed in 40 different places in the US and talked with a lot of people.

After this, I decided that I wanted to dedicate myself to this educational work of promoting a life full of activity and health. And I wanted to do this even though numerous publications on the topic existed because these were often too one-sided, incomplete, or even misleading.

With Salt Sugar Fat, I think it would have been better if Moss had dealt with all of the stories about and around the companies and the people separately and had followed a chronological order or selected a certain subject area to focus on. Options would have been, for example, the topics of politics and influence, the companies themselves, the effects of certain ingredients as determined by research, products, consumers, their needs and desires, or aspects to consider for the future.

The author was not even able to really separate the chapters Salt, Sugar, and Fat. I think that too much is woven together. And this makes it difficult to summarize the content of the book.

But despite the high level of complexity, the book is very interesting and gives the reader deep insight into the seducers and the seduced. We see that even the seducers are also seduced, thanks to their human character. They are responsible, either unscrupulously, unconsciously, or consciously, for causing an entire society to have major health problems.

My opinion is that we recognize how such a catastrophe can happen, albeit unwanted, but foreseeable; this is just our human nature. Reliable corrective measures are lacking in certain areas. But society will only put these in place if something leads to a major disaster.

There isn't a conspiracy in progress. The “nature of humans” is simply having an effect. This nature is something that idealistic politicians don't recognize. True liberalism is really the opposite of communism, but if the concentration of power is too large, the results are very similar.

I would recommend this interesting book to every person. You will find several stories about incidents, links, and consequences. Unfortunately, the book lacks a certain structure that could better guide the reader.

• It should be noted that the industry critic Kelly D. Brownell mentioned in this book review published the book Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, & What We Can Do About It (McGraw-Hill, 352 pages) in August 2003 (paperback edition: 2004). The coauthor is Katherine Battle Horgen. The book received much less recognition than "Salt Sugar Fat".
• And also the book Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back by Michele Simon didn't achieve near the success (2006, Nation Books, 416 pages).
• And not long before "Salt Sugar Fat" by Moss, other books on the subject appeared, but they didn't enjoy the same large response and recognition. An example is Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health, revised and expanded edition by Dr. Marion Nestle (University of California Press, October 2007, 510 pages).

The large number of similar books does point to the fact that at least for interested groups this is a hot topic.

Sucralose is the brand name for trichlorogalactosucrose and is about 600 times sweeter than sugar or to be precise granulated sugar (sucrose), but it doesn't have any calories.

It has been authorized in Canada since 1991, the US since 1999, and the EU since 2004.

This sugar substitute is already present in many foods as food additive E955.

The acceptable daily intake (ADI) is 15 mg per kg of body weight. Certain additives do not have to be labeled with E numbers. And some of these have not undergone adequate research in regards to adverse effects.

© CC-by-sa 2.0, Rama, Wikipedia

See, for example, dispersants, thickening agents (usually as E numbers), and emulsifiers—see also additional additives. See also sweeteners made from stevia.

Procter & Gamble (P&G, US), founded in 1837, is a multinational company for consumer products. P&G is a leader in brand management, but is a company that hardly comes into the public eye although it practically invented radio advertising as well as television advertising early on as marketing instruments.

P&G also sponsored and produced modern communication strategies such as radio and television shows, including Guiding Light, 1937 to 2009, which was the longest-running soap opera (Guinness Book). The German television station RTL produced parts of the story from 1986 to 1999.
Coca-Cola is the world's largest soft drink company and one of the most well-known brands in the world. Asa Griggs Candler acquired the rights from inventor John Stith Pemberton (1831–1888) and founded the Coca-Cola Company in 1892.

We know Mars Incorporated from the popular Mars chocolate bar. Frank C. Mars, together with his wife, began to produce sweets in 1911 and founded the company Mar-O-Bar in 1920.

Frank then changed the name to Mars Incorporated (US) in 1922 and introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. His son, Forrest E. Mars, introduced the Mars bar in England in 1932. In 2010, the company had annual sales of $28 billion and 65 thousand employees. Forbes Magazine listed Mars in 2010 as the fifth largest private company in the US. It was listed on the stock exchange in Switzerland, but not in the US.

Today, Nabisco (US) belongs to Kraft, which is now divided into Kraft Foods Group (US) and Mondelēz International (US). Today, Mondelēz International is the third largest food company in the world after Nestlé (Switzerland) and PepsiCo (US). Nestlé S.A. is the largest food company in the world. In 2011, its annual sales were approximately $90 billion, and the company had 330 thousand employees. Henri Nestlé (1814–1890) founded the company in 1866 and introduced a milk powder for infants in 1867. In 1875, he sold his successful company to his business associates (as per Wikipedia, May 2015)—Nestle himself only talks about selling to Pierre-Samuel Roussy, his flour supplier.

At that time, the Pillsbury Company was one of the multinational beverage producers for beer and whiskey (Diageo plc is the largest today). The majority of the British Distiller's Company's (DCBL) assets, (Conteran license holder) are now a part of Diageo plc.

Since 2001, Pillsbury has belonged to General Mills, which was founded in 1866 and had annual sales of $16.7 billion in 2012. General Mills is best known for its breakfast cereals.

Moss writes that the company introduced a new form of marketing in 1932 with its daily soap opera Betty and Bob on the radio station NBC.

According to Wikipedia, the first market players were the Dial Corporation (subsidiary of the Henkel Group), Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Lever Brothers.

Irma Phillips created this genre with Painted Dreams, the first daily soap opera that premiered in October 1930.

He stated that more than half of the adults in the US were overweight. And that of these, 40 million were obese (obesity: a BMI of >30).

The number of children who were overweight had more than doubled between 1980 and 1999. And 12 million children were obese.

Mudd explained that the social costs were huge at between $40 to 100 billion a year. He also showed the drastic increase of diseases such as diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, arterial hypertension (commonly known as high blood pressure), bile and liver problems, osteoarthritis, breast cancer, colorectal cancer (colon cancer), and endometrial cancer.

Today, obesity is a global problem. Even in China, people have adopted our foods and eating habits. In comparison to the West, China still has lower numbers when it comes to true obesity, which is a BMI >30.

The Wikipedia entry on obesity (German version) includes a bar graph from 2005 on obesity in 30 countries (doesn't include China).

It shows that 3.2 % of the population is obese in Japan and Korea, followed by 7.7 % in Switzerland and then 9.1 % in Austria (position 6) and 12.9 % in Germany (17).

The countries at the top with more than 20 % are New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Slovakia, the UK, Mexico (24.2 %), and the United States with 30.6 %. Mexico may soon pass up the US if they haven't done so already.

Mudd emphasized that the food manufacturers were in danger of losing key allies such as the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

He also warned that although the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) received money from the companies represented, the problem may soon cause the USDA chief to bite the hand that feeds him. The ubiquitous, cheap, very tasty, super-sized, and energy-dense food and beverages were turning the food pyramid recommended by the state upside down.

Mudd warned that Kelly D. Brownell, a well-known critic of the food industry, was pointing out connections to the tobacco industry.

This was problematic because lawyers had imposed large penalties and restrictions upon the cigarette industry. Now, these same lawyers could turn to the problem of obesity.

Sanger appeared to be very upset and reminded the others that both consumers and their ivory tower advocates were fickle, with what they love and what they eat. Consumers would discuss the topic of sugar, and then of fat and salt, but they usually bought the things they liked the best. Don't talk to me about nutrition, he said, speaking like a typical consumer.

Talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, don't run around trying to sell stuff that doesn't taste good (p. xx of prologue).

Besides, he reminded them that the industry had always managed to handle things, for example, negative news about trans fats.

He would move forward and would not pull his employees back. And his peers should do the same. Not everyone in the room shared this position, but it was very comforting. And Sanger presented his views in such a forceful and persuasive manner that they served as the closing words of the meeting.

And later, Sanger still felt his approach was right. He argued that his company also offered healthier versions of their mainline products. But as time went on, these companies manufactured products that contained even more salt, sugar, and fat.

Further pressure from the public and government circles brought about small improvements, which, above all, were urgently needed in foods for children.

For example, the new slogan in 2011 for the Oreo in India, where the company was securing a new foothold, was “Twist, Lick, Dunk.” Kraft used the slogan “Slam dunk,” which describes both a basket shot and dunking and eating the cookie.

It took numerous interviews and five months of research before Moss was able to put together the story of this secret meeting. He decided to put it at the beginning of his book as it shows typical actions of this largely unbridled industry. The companies demand success at almost any price. People who have concerns about the consequences of this type of diet don't have a place there. A company can't bring itself down.

© CC-by-sa 2.0, Hachette Books, Amazon

Walter C. Willett has written several books including "Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less: A Flexible And Delicious Way To Shrink Your Waist Without Going Hungry", which he co-authored with Mollie Katzen. The book is available as a reprint edition from 2007 (307 pages).

Katzen published her first cookbook, "The Moosewood Cookbook", in 1977. She promotes a vegetarian diet.

Willet also wrote "Eat, Drink, And Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating" (2003). There is a large number of other books available that describe this problem.

Kelly D. Brownell published The LEARN Program for Weight Control: Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships, Nutrition in 1994 (226 pages). The tenth edition was printed in 2004 as a paperback (226 pages), but it is much too expensive.

Together with Katherine Battle Horgen, Brownell's book Food Fight: The Inside Story of The Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It was published by McGraw-Hill in 2004 as a paperback (356 pages).

Brownell also published additional books, some of which were with co-authors. However, I wouldn't recommend these as they aren't scientific enough.

Researchers at Princeton University discovered that rats get chattering teeth when they go back to a normal diet after having been on a sugary diet for a certain period of time (p. 6).

Note: Cats, on the other hand, can't taste sugar as they lack the receptor for sweetness. However, some cats love chocolate as it contains other flavors.

In 2001, researchers at Monell identified the protein molecule TIR3 in the taste buds that detects sweetness. This experience is called gustatory perception.

It wasn't until later that researchers determined that these types of sugar sensors are also present in the digestive tract.

In 2009, the group working under Robert Margolskee discovered that the sweet taste receptors in the brain respond to cannabis (marijuana) because sugar is a chemical sister of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).

Note: The Wikipedia entry on Monell lists 12 important achievements that have benefited the food industry.

Moss starts his story about sugar with the desire children have for things that are especially sweet. The reason for this is that breast milk is very sweet. Children taste this sweetness from the very first day of their life, whereas they don't have salt until they are between four and six months. And African Americans also have a greater preference for sweeter foods than the average consumer.

Moss explains in great detail how Monell conducts studies with children and adults on a large scale and what findings the food industry gains from these.

Moss acquired the information he needed on this topic by visiting with individual employees at Monell.

Moss explains how refined starches act immediately with the help of amylase and trigger sugar cravings.

Amylase was the first enzyme to be discovered. The chemist Anselme Payen identified it in 1833 and named it diastase.