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Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us Paperback – February 18, 2014

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,380 ratings

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“If you had any doubt as to the food industry’s complicity in our obesity epidemic, it will evaporate when you read this book.”—The Washington Post

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • In this “propulsively written [and] persuasively argued” (The Boston Globe) exposé, a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter uncovers an insidious truth: food companies are deliberately sacrificing our health to raise their own profits.

Thirty-eight million Americans have diabetes. One in three adults and one in five kids is clinically obese. Why?

Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar. Every day, we ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt, double the recommended amount, almost none of which comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food, an industry that hauls in $2 trillion in annual sales.

In
Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss shows how we ended up here. Featuring examples from Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Frito-Lay, Nestlé, Oreos, Capri Sun, and many more, Moss’s explosive, empowering narrative is grounded in meticulous, eye-opening research. He takes us into labs where scientists calculate the “bliss point” of sugary beverages or enhance the “mouthfeel” of fat by manipulating its chemical structure, unearths marketing techniques taken straight from tobacco company playbooks, and talks to concerned insiders who make startling confessions.

Just as millions of “heavy users” are addicted to salt, sugar, and fat, so too are the companies that peddle them. You will never look at a nutrition label the same way again.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Atlantic, HuffPost, Men’s Journal, MSN, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“As a feat of reporting and a public service, Salt Sugar Fat is a remarkable accomplishment.”The New York Times Book Review
 
“[Michael] Moss has written a
Fast Food Nation for the processed food industry. Burrowing deep inside the big food manufacturers, he discovered how junk food is formulated to make us eat more of it and, he argues persuasively, actually to addict us.”—Michael Pollan
 
“If you had any doubt as to the food industry’s complicity in our obesity epidemic, it will evaporate when you read this book.”
The Washington Post
 
“Vital reading for the discerning food consumer.”
The Wall Street Journal
 
“Propulsively written [and] persuasively argued . . . an exactingly researched, deeply reported work of advocacy journalism.”
The Boston Globe
 
“[An] eye-popping exposé . . . Moss’s vivid reportage remains alive to the pleasures of junk—‘the heated fat swims over the tongue to send signals of joy to the brain’—while shrewdly analyzing the manipulative profiteering behind them. The result is a mouth-watering, gut-wrenching look at the food we hate to love.”
Publishers Weekly
 
“Revelatory . . . a shocking, galvanizing manifesto against the corporations manipulating nutrition to fatten their bottom line—one of the most important books of the year.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“What happens when one of the country’s great investigative reporters infiltrates the most disastrous cartel of modern times: a processed food industry that’s making a fortune by slowly poisoning an unwitting population? You get this terrific, powerfully written book, jammed with startling disclosures, jaw-dropping confessions and, importantly, the charting of a path to a better, healthier future. This book should be read by anyone who tears a shiny wrapper and opens wide. That’s all of us.”
—Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
 
“In this meticulously researched book, Michael Moss tells the chilling story of how the food giants have seduced everyone in this country. He understands a vital and terrifying truth: that we are not just eating fast food when we succumb to the siren song of sugar, fat, and salt. We are fundamentally changing our lives—and the world around us.”
—Alice Waters
 
Salt Sugar Fat is a breathtaking feat of reporting. Michael Moss was able to get executives of the world’s largest food companies to admit that they have only one job—to maximize sales and profits—and to reveal how they deliberately entice customers by stuffing their products with salt, sugar, and fat. This is a truly important book, and anyone reading it will understand why food corporations cannot be trusted to value health over profits and why we all need to recognize and resist food marketing every time we grocery shop or vote.”—Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and What to Eat

About the Author

Michael Moss was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010, and was a finalist for the prize in 1999 and 2006. He is also the recipient of a Loeb Award and an Overseas Press Club citation. Before coming to The New York Times, he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (February 18, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812982193
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812982190
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.98 x 8.23 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,380 ratings

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Michael Moss
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Michael Moss was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2010, and was a finalist for the prize in 2006 and 1999. He is also the recipient of a Gerald Loeb Award and an Overseas Press Club citation. Before coming to The New York Times, he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
3,380 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They describe it as an interesting and compelling read that opens their eyes to the food industry. Many appreciate the money value and the insights into the history of processed foods. However, opinions differ on the scariness level, with some finding it frightening and others saying it's not scary at all.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

460 customers mention "Readability"424 positive36 negative

Customers find the book compelling and interesting. They say it's well-researched and easy to read. Readers appreciate the author's storytelling ability and find it a pleasure to read.

"...Thank goodness Moss can unfold a story (even a complicated story involving CHEMISTRY and other things that normally have me yawning a few pages in!)..." Read more

"...All these disgraces are artfully wrapped by Moss in real stories of real events, and real people who were there, all humanized, or at least not..." Read more

"...the most marvelously constructed foods on the planet in terms of pure pleasure, ticking off a dozen attributes that make the brain say more...." Read more

"...Oy. Anyway - Great book. I highly recommend to anyone without a clue. It might clear some things up. I apologize for being snarky...." Read more

459 customers mention "Information quality"439 positive20 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They appreciate the detailed study of methods and ingredients, as well as the insights gleaned from interviews with former senior executives. The book provides an in-depth look at the topic and helps readers understand the issue and come to their own conclusions. Readers praise the author's experience and knowledge on the subject, making it one of the best non-fiction books of recent years.

"...bonuses I mentioned above, but whatever the catalyst, he looks and feels terrific...." Read more

"...It's a stellar example of the true power of excellent investigative journalism, and is great evidence for the argument that we need to be willing to..." Read more

"...Firstly and foremost a well-crafted and fun read, eye opening beyond education, flatly Awesome!..." Read more

"...enjoyed reading this book as the author is eloquent and keeps heaps of information light and quick to read...." Read more

105 customers mention "Insight"92 positive13 negative

Customers find the book provides interesting information about the food industry. It explores the history of processed foods and how they are engineered. Readers appreciate the respectful look at corporate food industries and their quarterly profits. They follow the birth of processed foods and how food corporations manipulate salt, sugar, and fat.

"...With this book, Moss assembled the comprehensive history of processed foods for the first time...." Read more

"...It consists mainly of meats and vegetables, and forbids the ingestion of just about every processed food in the grocery aisles...." Read more

"...salt/sugar/fat is for you, but rather a detailed look at how food corporations manipulate salt/sugar/fat so that when you stick something in our..." Read more

"This book covers each ingredient of fat, sugar and salt individually, but also discusses how they are all intertwined to make the processed &#..." Read more

8 customers mention "Money value"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book offers good value for money. They say it provides a fascinating and scary look at how much money and energy food giants put into marketing and money has changed the food we eat.

"...to ensure near limitless supplies at unbelievably low costs that enable items that would otherwise be inedible to keep one..." Read more

"...their food, but this book is a fascinating (and scary) look at how much money and energy they put into knowingly addicting us to sugar, fat and salt..." Read more

"...Money is most important not people, their nutrition, good health and lives as the story unfolds...." Read more

"...The money the food giants make is incredible. I would recommend the book to anyone especially anyone that eats processed foods." Read more

44 customers mention "Scariness level"26 positive18 negative

Customers have different views on the book's scariness level. Some find it frightening and shocking, while others describe it as disturbing and spine-tingling.

"This book is jam packed with real life conspiracies and facts about the biggest market manipulators in history...." Read more

"...for whatever years they remained alive... it would be a very, very chilling film. The only thing scarier? That it's really happening...." Read more

"...A good cautionary tale for anyone who is trying to eat a healthy diet." Read more

"...leaders makes me give this book five stars for journalism an threat research...." Read more

23 customers mention "Sugar content"16 positive7 negative

Customers have different views on the sugar content of the book. Some find it interesting and informative, shedding light on food cravings and how the food industry works to make us overeat. Others mention that the book goes into the science of overeating and the demise of sensible eating.

"...make my top 10 list of non-fiction books for 2013 with his brilliant "Salt Sugar Fat", an incredibly well-researched book on the global food industry..." Read more

"...Salt Sugar Fat was really interesting, Moss clearly did a lot of research and it doesn't feel like he had a preconceived idea of what he wanted to..." Read more

"...It is literally liquid sugar on the worst level...." Read more

"...when you stick something in our mouth it tastes delicious and makes you want more...." Read more

12 customers mention "Taste"8 positive4 negative

Customers have different views on the taste of foods. Some find them delicious and appealing, while others criticize processed foods that manipulate their taste buds with sugar, salt, and fat. The book provides scientific background to taste and visual appeal.

"...salt/sugar/fat so that when you stick something in our mouth it tastes delicious and makes you want more...." Read more

"...are the very definition of inferior precisely because they taste terrible...." Read more

"...makes for voracious reading (pun intended), while the scientific backgrounds to taste and visual attraction to packaging are also immensely helpful..." Read more

"...helps you understand the business of processed foods, why they are so tasteful and you can't get enough of them. It's all planned...." Read more

We are what we eat
5 out of 5 stars
We are what we eat
I recently started cutting out processed foods and sugary drinks for 1 month and lost 10lbs. I used to eat potato chips multiple times a week and within 3 days of stopping my ankles and feet were no longer swollen all due to water retention from my high sodium diet. I always thought I was just unlucky via genetics to have “cankles” and now feel blessed to know I can control how my body looks and feels (to a degree). I will to do as much as possible to stay away from processed foods, drinks, fast food, etc. from this point forward.This was an empowering read because i now feel for the first time I have more knowledge about the impact of choices as I was so oblivious to the addictive and adverse impact it was having on not only my ankles but my entire body (the bags underneath my eyes are much less noticeable), my joints are not inflamed, and the list goes on and on. Kudos for this book.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2013
    The media could not be loaded.
    Maybe it's only because I'm old, and six decades of "doing processed foods" have destroyed more than the average number of brain cells for me, but I can't recall any other book ever having this degree of impact on my behavior. Nor can my husband. But he's old, too. Maybe it is the brain cells thing.

    Neither of us has been able to shop for groceries, order meals in restaurants, or prepare food at home as we used to, since being swept up by Michael Moss' incredible exposé of the food industry's masterminds and their discoveries of methods for addicting us to their products. My husband and I are members of the first generation that grew up eating processed foods, but I never actually understood the definition of "processed" in this context prior to reading Salt Sugar Fat. I'd often wondered "why all the fuss about processed foods?" and had no qualms whatsoever about consuming them, if in fact I was. I really wasn't sure. (I know, right?)

    Thank goodness Moss can unfold a story (even a complicated story involving CHEMISTRY and other things that normally have me yawning a few pages in!) in such an intriguing, mesmerizing manner. Otherwise, I may never have made it to the page that reveals in 1995, when 2 out of 3 kids were drinking a 20-ounce bottle of Coke per day, Coca-Cola's executives weren't referring to the people they'd addicted as "loyal customers" or even "consumers". No. Coca-Cola called these people "heavy users". Coca-Cola knew exactly what they were doing, even to kids. But only a couple of the company's executives had trouble sleeping at night, even as the facts about the crisis they were creating became clear. Luckily for us, at least one of those suits had not only a conscience, but a willingness to talk once he'd defected. In addition to the suits, Moss gleaned information from food scientists, government agencies, lawyers, legislators and plenty of other key players in this global addiction story.

    The revelation of Coca-Cola's terminology was a turning point for me. Not "loyal customers" but "heavy users". Wow. As I put the book down and turned off the light that evening, I remember smiling, thinking "What's that term from Thomas Kuhn that becomes trendy every now and then? ...paradigm shift... Yeah. So this must be what a paradigm shift feels like. Wow. Shopping for groceries tomorrow will be different"

    And it was. It still is. My husband and I actually enjoy reading food labels now, and swapping insider jokes about them. But we're serious about what we do and don't allow ourselves to buy and consume now. The foods we eat most often have single word descriptions now. (Ingredients: orange) (Ingredients: carrots) We've each lost several pounds and can more easily exercise for longer intervals now. These physical changes weren't intended, but were definitely welcome and helpful for each of us at our age. I never was addicted to soda. I consumed maybe one soft drink every 6 weeks. My husband, however, was a "heavy user". One of the most interesting developments as our consumption habits changed: he lost his pot belly. That thing called by many a "beer belly" just melted away over the past 3 months. Maybe it's related to the other physical bonuses I mentioned above, but whatever the catalyst, he looks and feels terrific. Another interesting development which seemingly is related but we're not sure howso: he no longer has the Restless Leg Syndrome he had before we began shopping for, preparing and consuming food differently.

    Does it sound as if I'm over-dramatizing this story and its impact on us? Maybe. I do lean towards drama-queen communication. But if you do read this book, let me know if you don't agree with this statement: If this real life situation was, instead, a feature film in which evil villains slowly created, and introduced into society, various chemical products that were designed - no, perfected! - to hook the people of the world into massive, ever-escalating consumption that shortened the life spans of the victims and destroyed the quality of their lives for whatever years they remained alive... it would be a very, very chilling film.

    The only thing scarier? That it's really happening. Right now. And has been for years.

    We're the victims. Or not. This book can help you make your choice.
    99 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2013
    I am the type of person who hates highlighting in books. Even in college, it pained me to take a highlighter and mark up a page, no matter how brilliant the passage. It was a sort of sacrilege, a desecration of the book. So for me to mark up passage after passage of this book (albeit the Kindle version, but still), that has to say something about how shocking I found much of what this book has to say. It always strikes me as sort of pretentious and presumptuous to call a book "important", but this is an important book. It's a stellar example of the true power of excellent investigative journalism, and is great evidence for the argument that we need to be willing to pay for journalism if we want quality and depth.

    I think it is fair to criticize this book a bit by saying there are some sections that feel a little hasty. There's a bit of sloppiness here and there, and the book is repetitive at times. Still, this didn't detract from the importance of its message.

    Divided into three sections: salt, sugar, and fat, Moss goes into great detail in analyzing why the processed food industry is so reliant on these three ingredients, even when it knows that these ingredients aren't good for us and may well be contributing to obesity and other diseases, such as diabetes. The bottom line is this book exposes the ugly side of capitalism: when you are so intent on selling a product and providing a high profit margin for the pleasure of Wall Street and your investors, you tend to lose sight of the fact that the product you're producing is meant to nourish people. I felt almost like I was looking at this book from opposite sides of the looking glass. On one hand, I could understand the industry drive to increase profits and lower costs, and to not only meet but beat the competition. From the other side, this is food we're talking about here, food that has become a huge part of the American diet and that may well be killing us. Are profits worth this? If ever there was a reason for government regulation, it is the food industry--this book proves exactly why that intervention is sometimes necessary. The market isn't self-regulating when all that matters is profit, not what the product is doing to the people who are using it.

    Parts of this book are downright revolting, such as when Moss has the opportunity to taste some products without the added salts, sugars, and fats on which they reply. He describes things like Cheez-Its and canned soup as tasting bitter and metallic, and this was enough to put me off those products for good. Moss argues that the food industry uses inferior ingredients not because those ingredients are acceptable, but because they generate more profit and cost the company less. The ingredients are the very definition of inferior precisely because they taste terrible. In order to mask the horrible taste, the industry, you guessed it, loads the products up with salt, sugar, and fat. Time after time, I couldn't help but wonder why we eat these things when they sound like the sort of nourishment we wouldn't give to our dogs.

    Ah, but there's an answer for that. It's not enough for food companies to sell us a product, they must hook us on it and instill a sense of brand loyalty. It should go without saying that we can only eat so much food, which means there are only so many food dollars to be won. In a perfect world, we'd eat just enough to sustain us and keep us healthy but, in that world, the food companies wouldn't make the obscene profits they make. So, what they do is scientifically formulate their foods to make them so addictive we eat more than we should--and they do this not only knowingly, but on purpose. Let that sink in for a while: food companies are actively trying to ensure that Americans overeat because the more we eat, the more money they make. They invest a lot of time, effort, and research into figuring out what makes us like the taste of something and using that information to create recipes that we literally find irresistible. It's mind boggling to imagine what we could create if that sort of devotion, time, and money was applied not to making us eat food that wrecks havoc on our health but, say, to something like figuring out a cheap way to provide clean water for all, or to find a cure for cancer.

    This is one of the most striking elements of the book, the way it exposes how science can be monstrously twisted into a discipline that's used not for good (developing medicines, explaining how the world works), but for bad (tricking us into eating unhealthy quantities of processed foods). It's important for savvy consumers to know that studies and experiments can be structured in such a way as to try to determine their outcome before they even begin, and food companies are notorious for doing just this--sometimes because they've taken a page from the tobacco industry, which has owned some of the largest food companies. Whenever there's an outcry over a particular public health concern, the food companies fund studies that either try to downplay the risks or that help them continue to pump us full of terrible food by swapping out one risk for another. One need look no further than the high sugar content of the foods that were churned out during the fat free craze. The food companies prayed on consumer fears by creating a product that helped us assuage our worries about fat by getting us hooked on sugar.

    Most pernicious of all, though, is how the food industry has turned to preying on the most vulnerable in our society--children, lower income families, and people in developing nations--in order to continue to pad their profits. Through clever marketing and a concerted effort to ensure that prime shelf space is given to nutrient-deficient, calorically dense foods, the food industry ensures that those most in need of good nutrition are the least likely to get it. What's perhaps even more disturbing is how they've convinced the public that any attempts to level the playing field and make healthier foods more readily available is a violation of our "choice"--as if any of us would choose to be slowly poisoned by what we eat. One need look no further than New York's attempts at banning supersize sugary beverages. Yes, perhaps people should have the choice to ingest as much sugary soda as they want, but at what cost? At what point do we understand that we're being deprived of our choice to live a health lifestyle and to protect our children from the predatory marketing in which companies engage to make sure they make our children customers for life? And what about the costs to public health, don't they count for something?

    This book was such a wake up call. I'd already begun to look at processed foods with a dubious eye and have worked hard to eliminate them from my home and to prepare fresh meals from scratch using more fruits and vegetables, but this book finally helped tip the scale--pun intended--and made me determined to avoid added sugars wherever possible. I was so disgusting and upset by what I read that I found myself frantically cleaning out both my fridge and my pantry, throwing away things like salad dressing and mayonnaise because they both had added sugars. Why do we need sugar in mayonnaise anyway? That, I think, is the sort of question all Americans need to ask themselves. Maybe then we can end up with some semblance of sanity in our food policies.
    69 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
    Reviewed in Canada on September 6, 2024
    So important a subject. Well written, pertinent and a real eye opener.
  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Es una buena edición de bolsillo
    Reviewed in Spain on December 29, 2022
    La edición y el diseño de portada están bien.
  • ella
    5.0 out of 5 stars Molto interessante
    Reviewed in Italy on April 19, 2022
    Un libro moooolto interessante. Apre gli occhi su tanti prodotti!
  • Rupinder Sayal
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I could make it a required reading
    Reviewed in India on May 9, 2017
    A meticulously detailed expose of the inner workings of Food Industry and the horrible yet fascinating "origin stories" behind some of the most popular food products globally. The book reads like an investigative account yet reminds the reader of reading an Agatha Christie-esque detective thriller. The book delves deep into the science, economics, and politics of food giants and their array of products.

    The three stars of the book are Salt, Sugar, and Fat - the three most crucial and most addictive ingredients which are behind products like Cheese, Chips, Soft Drinks, Cookies, Candies, and the whole shebang. There is a neat surprise about the links of tobacco industry with the food industry, which makes you wonder about the implications of this alliance for our eating habits. Read it and see if your eating doesn't change for the better. I can bet on it.
  • Mindful 1
    5.0 out of 5 stars yet the fine print states that there are n servings where n ...
    Reviewed in Australia on June 6, 2018
    I found the book to be well researched and balanced in the way the author described where we have landed with processed food. The industry is highly competitive and greedy for profits and maintain that they are meeting a need for convenience, so it is really the consumers' fault. All this may be true, but it would be of benefit to us all to have the truth enforced by regulators. It seems there is an unhealthy amount of salt to eliminate metallic taste and when a low salt option is marketed, nothing is said about the additional fat and or sugar that has been added to strive for the bliss point. The other scandal lies in what is described as a serving. Bags of chips keep getting bigger because the companies know that once they are opened, the whole bag will be consumed, yet the fine print states that there are n servings where n is much larger than 1. We can't hold our breath on the regulators doing more for us, because the power of the processed food industry is probably comparable to the gun lobby. Well worth reading, irrespective of how educated you feel you are on this subject.