have children that are unsupervised that are getting the only food that they have available to them, the food that gives them a good feeling because of the bliss point and which i feel, by the way. i know about that bliss point. i have hit it. we all have. we all have. and yet without structure of when and how to do that and having the right information, right? it goes from an occasional treat which is okay. it s okay to treat yourself sometimes, right? of course. but a way of life without the context. right. the other point i want to make, michael, about trans fats is this is an area where forcing the companies to list trans fats, we know this, here s a 2013 new york times article talks about it. forcing the companies to list trans fats actually led to a change in market demand that ultimately declined than wanting to put trans fats in foods. there is a way this can work to a degree. the companies are risk averse is one thing i learned. i was surprised by that. t
communities of colors and others are doing obesity wise. you can see it pretty clearly there. two points are made on that. number one, that when many low income students end up in school, sometimes that narrows a little bit as they have school lunches, when they re done the right way. and, second, the information that s actually provided, the marketing, etc., that you ve been covering. you know, i looked really hard to see whether the companies, the food giants were targeting kids by race through their formulations, and i think they re pretty color blind on that. i mean, they are hitting the bliss point for sweetness, the flavor bursts for salt, the mall fuel for fat regardless of race. but the marketing, the marketing that you see, the up and down the street marketing which they refer to targeting the corner stores that surround schools in many cities is clearly directed. and what is the bliss point? the bliss point is the perfect amount of sugar in a product that will send us o
all those three? always those three in optimum amounts, heaps, really. we ve always known the foods we hate to love will make us sick if we eat too many of them. but we now know for years thes prodollars industry has known this, even as they continue adding heaps. what food would surprise us if michael moss came out and said that has the bliss point very well calculated and we go, oh, my gosh, i had to idea? i really love both potato chips myself and to talk about it. they have the salt, the flavor burst goes right you to your pleasure center of the brab and says eat more. they re loaded with fat. that delivers what they call the mouth feel which is an incredible allure. and they re loaded with sugar, which i didn t know. not added to it, but the potato starch itself starts turning into sugar as soon as it hits your tongue. salt, sugar, fat. i love the holy trinity, i have to say.
related problems here, that s approaching $200 billion a year. in his new book, salt, sugar fat, how the food giants hooked up michael mogs writes that company scientist search for the perfect amount of salt, fat and sugar in their processed food formulas together uts addicted. what s known in the industry as the bliss point. michael moss joins us today. good to see you. thanks for having me. what s the bliss point? that is the perfect amount of sweetness usually in food that will send us over the moon. not too much, not too little. one person walk me recently through his formula for the perfect sod ya. he had to use different points, subjected to 3 thougs consumer taste tests and guaranteed to be a success fovl company. make that real for us, the bliss point, a product. what s going to be in it? sugar, salt, fat. this is a holy trinity for the
being inside a detective story. looking at how these companies have, have deepened our dependence on salt, sugar fat especially. and the other thing that is just staggering is the science. the amount of research and development they put into every aspect. you talk about something called the bliss point. yes. which anybody who has bitten into a cheeto, which i m sure you have, sam stein, and you threw the bag away, so there would be no evidence about your orange fingers. the bliss point is the apex of like taste, sensation, sound, crunch, the rest. i want to read a little bit about the science. one of the most compelling and unsettling aspects of the role of salt, sugar and fat in processed foods is is the way the industry in an effort to boost their power, has sought to alter the physical shape and structure, scientists fidsling with the strab use of fat gl