So, I gave you Frank Kessler’s message on Friday.  Today, I’ll talk about how the food industry has been manipulating food- and us- to keep us addicted to eating more- and more- and more.  The industry specialists know that food’s addictive quality is a function of its salt content, fat content (squared), it’s “crunchability”, and a pleasing mouth feel.

One of the premier researchers in this area is a researcher, Howard Moskowitz, who got his start (after his Harvard PhD) at Natick Research Labs (US Army).  His job there was to get soldiers to eat more of their rations.  Well, that was his start.  Now, he employs sophisticated techniques like statistical analysis (conjoint analysis),  where attributes about food are separated and ranked by a cohort of test subjects.  These salt, fat, sugar, color attributes are all ranked to find their respective “bliss point”- the optimal point that excites our brain to its maximal craving.

In 2007, along with Drs. Beckley and Resurreccion, he wrote a monograph describing his findings.  Not just salt, fat, sugar, and color, but “mouth feel”- how the product interacts with the mouth- those attributes of gumminess, moisture release, and dryness.  And, when all these various attributes are combined, we no longer have “a” bliss point ( a single point)- but  a range of values.  Which lets the food companies manipulate the ingredients to get the best bang for their buck; they can use of the more expensive components and deliver the same relative result (“bliss”) to consumers.

Of course, there still is one cardinal rule that the food purveyors know:  When in doubt, add sugar.  That’s exactly what Prego did, when they discerned that there were three distinct groups choosing sauce for pasta.  Those that like it plain, those that like it saucy, and those that like it chunky.   Before Prego, no one offered a chunky pasta sauce- so they capitalized on that segment- but still added sugar.

Labeling something as containing “less salt” does exactly what the food companies want.  Oh- we all think that means we can eat MORE of it, since there’s less salt.  Saying that potato chips are toasted and not fried, makes us think they are healthier.  (Don’t be fooled- the potatoes are “toasted” in oil- yes, that means they ARE fried.) To win over even more converts, they work with restaurants and “dieticians”  to pair their potato chips with soups, sandwiches, salads, fruits, and egg dishes.  So, we think it must be o.k. to eat those chips.  (Boy, am I glad that I detest potatoes!)

Food innovations, believe it or not, also include packaging.  Putting one food together with another, changing the size or the shape- all work to help increase market share.  But, the addition of fresh components to our foods just doesn’t work.  Because those fresh fruits and vegetables spoil or discolor during the long time periods between manufacture and the  storage, shipment, and placement of product on the shelves.

Another factor that food vendors use to hook us on their wares is an attribute termed “vanishing calorie density” (as defined by Dr. Steven A. Witherly).  His book, Why Humans Like Junk Food, describes the feeling the brain develops when something melts quickly in our mouth; we think it can’t have too many calories, so we eat more of it.  He clearly defines junk food as any food that excites the caloric pleasure centers (fat >30%, carbohydrates >25%), has orosensation (the snap, crackle, and pop of food), and taste hedonics (the salt and sugar content) .

Given all these factors, is it surprising that we are obese?   Yes, folks eat less as they age.  But, the factor for the baby boomers, is that they ate so much junk food when they were younger, that “lessening” is still a lot of food.  Add that to our behaviors; we skip breakfast to have early morning meetings, skip lunch to catch up on work- and then snack to make up for the food they missed…Well, you have more than the trifecta for developing obesity.

And, it’s, oh, so,  true.  In 2011, Drs. Mozaffarian, Rimm, Willett, and Hu, along with Mr. Hao (MPH) published their findings of three different cohorts of health professionals in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).  Over a maximum of 20 years (1986-2006), they examined the 120,877 folks (no chronic diseases, not obese at the start of the study) and found that, in spite of their training and knowledge, they exercised less, watched more TV, and gained about 3.5 pounds every 4 years they were re-examined.  But, what they ate was more astounding- red meat, processed meat, sugared beverages, and potatoes of all varieties.  And, potato chips, laden with their fat and salt content, won the prize as the most eaten “food”, because the brain’s pleasure center is so overly stimulated.  (It’s those sugars that are produced from the starch in potato ships that helps us gain weight.)

So- read Frank Kessler’s book.  And, follow his guidelines.  Let’s break this stranglehold on our health- now.

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