Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

In this exposé, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Michael Moss uncovers how food companies deliberately sacrifice public health to increase profits. The average American consumes thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar annually, and ingests 8,500 milligrams of salt daily—double the recommended amount—almost entirely from processed foods rather than table salt. Moss examines the processed food industry, which generates $2 trillion in annual sales, through examples from major companies including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Frito-Lay, Nestlé, Oreos, and Capri Sun. He documents how scientists in corporate labs identify the "bliss point" of sugary beverages and manipulate fat's chemical structure to enhance "mouthfeel." The book reveals marketing strategies adapted from tobacco industry playbooks and includes accounts from industry insiders. Moss connects these practices to current health statistics: thirty-eight million Americans have diabetes, and one in three adults and one in five children are clinically obese. The narrative demonstrates how both consumers and companies become addicted to salt, sugar, and fat.