Listen free for 30 days
-
Salt Sugar Fat
- How the Food Giants Hooked Us
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Membership
$14.95 a month
Buy Now for $41.68
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Hooked
- Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
- Written by: Michael Moss
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? And to what extent does the food industry know, or care, about these vulnerabilities? In Hooked, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss sets out to answer these questions - and to find the true peril in our food.
-
-
I really enjoyed this book but..
- By Emily Koch on 2021-11-29
Written by: Michael Moss
-
The Big Fat Surprise
- Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet
- Written by: Nina Teicholz
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dish up the red meat, eggs, and whole milk! In this well-researched and captivating narrative, veteran food writer Nina Teicholz proves how everything we've been told about fat is wrong. For decades, Americans have cut back on red meat and dairy products full of "bad" saturated fats. We obediently complied with nutritional guidelines to eat "heart healthy" fats found in olive oil, fish, and nuts, and followed a Mediterranean diet heavy on fruits, vegetables, and grains. Yet the nation's health has declined. What is going on?
-
-
Fantastic all around!
- By MRKy Waters on 2018-06-26
Written by: Nina Teicholz
-
The Case Against Sugar
- Written by: Gary Taubes
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever. Obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical, society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup.
-
-
tl;dr
- By Phill on 2019-02-24
Written by: Gary Taubes
-
The End of Overeating
- Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
- Written by: David A. Kessler MD
- Narrated by: Blair Hardman
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The End of Overeatinguncovers the shocking facts about how we lost control over our eating habits - and how we can get it back. Dr. Kessler presents groundbreaking research, along with what is sure to be a controversial view inside the industry that continues to feed a nation of overeaters - from popular brand manufacturers to advertisers, chain restaurants, and fast-food franchises.
-
-
Not impressed...
- By erin on 2020-08-19
Written by: David A. Kessler MD
-
Good Calories, Bad Calories
- Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
- Written by: Gary Taubes
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 25 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number.
-
-
a MUST read
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-04-24
Written by: Gary Taubes
-
Metabolical
- The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
- Written by: Robert H. Lustig
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.
-
-
Adding this one to my top five book recommendations
- By Susan A Rapin on 2021-05-16
Written by: Robert H. Lustig
-
Hooked
- Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
- Written by: Michael Moss
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? And to what extent does the food industry know, or care, about these vulnerabilities? In Hooked, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss sets out to answer these questions - and to find the true peril in our food.
-
-
I really enjoyed this book but..
- By Emily Koch on 2021-11-29
Written by: Michael Moss
-
The Big Fat Surprise
- Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet
- Written by: Nina Teicholz
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dish up the red meat, eggs, and whole milk! In this well-researched and captivating narrative, veteran food writer Nina Teicholz proves how everything we've been told about fat is wrong. For decades, Americans have cut back on red meat and dairy products full of "bad" saturated fats. We obediently complied with nutritional guidelines to eat "heart healthy" fats found in olive oil, fish, and nuts, and followed a Mediterranean diet heavy on fruits, vegetables, and grains. Yet the nation's health has declined. What is going on?
-
-
Fantastic all around!
- By MRKy Waters on 2018-06-26
Written by: Nina Teicholz
-
The Case Against Sugar
- Written by: Gary Taubes
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever. Obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical, society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup.
-
-
tl;dr
- By Phill on 2019-02-24
Written by: Gary Taubes
-
The End of Overeating
- Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
- Written by: David A. Kessler MD
- Narrated by: Blair Hardman
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The End of Overeatinguncovers the shocking facts about how we lost control over our eating habits - and how we can get it back. Dr. Kessler presents groundbreaking research, along with what is sure to be a controversial view inside the industry that continues to feed a nation of overeaters - from popular brand manufacturers to advertisers, chain restaurants, and fast-food franchises.
-
-
Not impressed...
- By erin on 2020-08-19
Written by: David A. Kessler MD
-
Good Calories, Bad Calories
- Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
- Written by: Gary Taubes
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 25 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number.
-
-
a MUST read
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-04-24
Written by: Gary Taubes
-
Metabolical
- The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
- Written by: Robert H. Lustig
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.
-
-
Adding this one to my top five book recommendations
- By Susan A Rapin on 2021-05-16
Written by: Robert H. Lustig
-
The Cheese Trap
- How Breaking a Surprising Addiction Will Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Get Healthy
- Written by: Neal D Barnard, Marilu Henner - foreword
- Narrated by: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We've been told that dairy does a body good, but the truth is that cheese can be dangerous. Loaded with calories, fat, and cholesterol, cheese can make you gain weight and leads to a host of health problems like high blood pressure and arthritis. Worse, it contains mild opiates that make it addictive, triggering the same brain receptors as heroin and morphine. In The Cheese Trap, Dr. Neal Barnard presents a comprehensive program to help listeners break free of their cheese addiction.
-
-
everyone especially Doctors should read this book
- By Grant G Lucas on 2021-01-06
Written by: Neal D Barnard, and others
-
The Dorito Effect
- The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor
- Written by: Mark Schatzker
- Narrated by: Chris Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Dorito Effect, Mark Schatzker shows us how our approach to the nation's number-one public health crisis has gotten it wrong. The epidemics of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are not tied to the overabundance of fat or carbs. Instead we have been led astray by the growing divide between flavor - the tastes we crave - and the underlying nutrition.
-
-
great info but full of unnessary fat shaming
- By Elle on 2021-01-31
Written by: Mark Schatzker
-
The End of Alzheimer's
- The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline
- Written by: Dale E. Bredesen MD
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this paradigm shifting book, Dale Bredesen, MD, offers real hope to anyone looking to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. Revealing that AD is not one condition, as it is currently treated, but three, The End of Alzheimer's outlines 36 metabolic factors (micronutrients, hormone levels, sleep) that can trigger "downsizing" in the brain. The protocol shows us how to rebalance these factors using lifestyle modifications like taking B12, eliminating gluten, or improving oral hygiene.
-
-
Worth the Listen
- By Andrea Derochie on 2018-09-15
Written by: Dale E. Bredesen MD
-
In Defense of Food
- An Eater's Manifesto
- Written by: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion - most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
-
-
Some good messages but very preachy
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-10-20
Written by: Michael Pollan
-
The Hacking of the American Mind
- The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
- Written by: Robert H. Lustig
- Narrated by: Robert H. Lustig
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery - our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover. Dopamine is the "reward" neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction. Serotonin is the "contentment" neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don't need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression.
-
-
Another Amazing Book
- By Vesna on 2019-02-10
Written by: Robert H. Lustig
-
Proteinaholic
- How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It
- Written by: Garth Davis MD
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you are seeing a doctor, a nutritionist, or a trainer, all of them advise eating more protein. Foods, drinks, and supplements are loaded with extra protein. Many people use protein for weight control while others believe it gives them more energy. Now, weight loss expert Dr. Garth Davis asks, "Is all this protein making us healthier?" The answer, he emphatically argues, is no.
-
-
Great resource for vegetarian diet
- By Happy Mom on 2020-05-30
Written by: Garth Davis MD
Publisher's Summary
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Atlantic • The Huffington Post • Men’s Journal • MSN (U.K.) • Kirkus Reviews • Publishers Weekly
NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • WINNER OF THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AWARD FOR WRITING AND LITERATURE
From a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at The New York Times comes the explosive story of the rise of the processed food industry and its link to the emerging obesity epidemic. Michael Moss reveals how companies use salt, sugar, and fat to addict us and, more important, how we can fight back.
In the spring of 1999, the heads of the world’s largest processed food companies gathered at Pillsbury headquarters in Minneapolis for a secret meeting. On the agenda: the emerging epidemic of obesity, and what to do about it.
Increasingly, the salt-, sugar-, and fat-laden foods these companies produced were being linked to obesity, and a concerned Kraft executive took the stage to issue a warning: There would be a day of reckoning unless changes were made. When he was done, the most powerful person in the room - the CEO of General Mills - stood up to speak, clearly annoyed. And by the time he sat down, the meeting was over.
In Salt Sugar Fat, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss shows how we got here. Featuring examples from some of the most recognizable (and profitable) companies and brands of the last half century - including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Kellogg, Nestlé, Oreos, Cargill, Capri Sun, and many more - Moss’ explosive, empowering narrative is grounded in meticulous, often eye-opening research.
Includes a bonus PDF with endnotes from the book
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
"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)
More from the same
Author:
Narrator:
What listeners say about Salt Sugar Fat
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. J. Kalcsa
- 2021-07-27
Informative
Interesting look behind the scenes of the food industry. Scott Brick is a very enjoyable narrator. Had trouble with the authors views on saturated fat and salt. While I agree that added sugar in the diet is not healthy, I disagree on his opinion on salt and saturated fat. When combined with sugar they are not good. In the absence of sugar they are necessary for ones health. Saturated fat is not a contributing factor of heart disease in the absence of sugar. It's sugar that causes inflammation of the arteries thus causing cholesterol to accumulate to bandage the problem.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sharron padden
- 2021-09-24
Salt Sugar, Fat
This is an Astonishing book. Everything humans should know how food organizations manipulate people into eating processed food. It is a book hat can be referred to over and over.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brigitte D
- 2020-10-20
An important overview of the processed food industry
This book is a great look at how politics, marketing, and economics shaped the food we eat today. Well written and easy to understand, this offers important insight into why we like and purchase the foods we do, the obesity epidemic, and food marketing.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2020-06-02
Food Expose or Great Marketing Manual
Initially drawn in based on the alluring titles and hoping to uncover some well-known secrets of these processed food, but I was actually able to gain so much knowledge on marketing strategies. We as consumers really didn’t know that we crave some food until they are presented to us.
Also, 6/5 for Scott Brick’s amazing narrative. There’s something special about his voice and intonation that made this book sounding like a murder-mystery, which really kept me going.
I wouldn’t say this is an easy read only because I found myself so fascinated by the back stories and the research studies that I kept researching for news/studies on related topics. This is a book that I would carve out time just to listen in and think afterwards.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah
- 2018-09-13
Smart, succinct and sustaining
Really enjoyed the investigative approach that this book took, and the easy to understand way that the arguments/facts/details were presented. It definitely made a difference in the way that I shop, eat and live. Very well written and the thoughts were organized in a way that was very easy to follow. #Audible1
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joseph
- 2018-09-13
Very informative #Audible1
It went into a lot of detail on the history of processed food and gave a hint of what direction it will take
#Audible1
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sandy M
- 2018-08-01
So informative, I loved this book.
So much shocking but necessary information for anyone that cares about their health and wants to make informed choices. #Audible1
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Syd Young
- 2014-03-09
Shocked to be so shocked
It's hard to shock a veteran lawyer, but this book did it. Wish I had known this years ago. This book is not another fad diet book, rather, it is a food industry exposé. Even if you take it with a proverbial grain if salt, you'll be disturbed. I grew up on a farm where we ate mostly the food we raised. Now I'm even more motivated to return to the ways of my youth.
I do agree that the narrator is a bit too dramatic; it is distracting. But don't let it discourage you from this important work.
26 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 2013-03-03
This is all too real, and YOU are the victim.
There are times when you listen to horror audiobooks for sheer listening enjoyment.
In this case, it's all too real, and you are the victim.
Moss is, essentially, an industry whistleblower. A food industry whistleblower, to be precise. And what he reveals is something many of us suspected, but is no less dramatically disturbing.
Basically the food industry is creating and adding extremely addictive chemicals to processed foods of all types, with the single intent to get you to buy more, eat more, and repeat ad nauseum. Salt, sugar and fat additives are manipulated at the molecular level to cause the pleasure centers of the consumer's brain (the very same pleasure centers affected by heroin addicts) to dramatically respond to and become addicted to the taste of the grocery store foods you eat, causing you to again, buy more, eat more, thus fattening yourself as well the food industry's (and the health insurance industry's) sizable wallets.
These additives are now causing a generation of pre-teen illnesses once only seen in the very elderly, and causing the soon to retire baby boomers to face illnesses that don't have to be endured.
We have placed our trust in the food industry, quickly swallowing, literally, what we're told. It's time to wake up, to realize that trust has been nightmarishly broken, and our very health and lives are in danger. And the food industry couldn't care less.
These reveals aren't speculation, but facts backed up by insider company documentation, with more discovered on a daily basis. The sheer amount of proven conclusions are stunning, and the result is a national disaster. Moss was recently on the Oz show, among others, and is spreading the word. It's sobering, and it's scary, to state it plainly.
I can speak solidly on this audiobook's conclusions, having once weighed 390 pounds and endured a horrible physical lifestyle. I began to do the research, and discovered much speculation regarding what Moss has now proven to be fact. It disturbed me so much, that it changed my life, and I went on a strict program of healthier foods, additional water intake, and walking daily. As the processed foods remains washed out of my body, I began to lose a dramatic amount of weight, my health returned, and I felt better than I had in a very long time. I've kept the weight off, and enjoy my life immensely. I'm living proof that these processed foods can damage you, and that it's not too late to change.
Dear Audible listener, note the star rating I've given this book. VERY FEW of my reviews garnish such a positive recommendation. I cannot help by make this my most highly recommended listen thus far for 2013. And when you listen, I'm confident that you'll agree.
I appreciate that you've taken the time to read this review. Now, take the time to learn the truth about what you eat, and what it's doing to you.
Stop being the victim.
209 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Douglas C. Bates
- 2013-03-19
The Smoking Gun on the Obesity Epidemic
If you want to know what caused the obesity epidemic, here it is!
Sugar, Salt, Fat is about how the processed food industry figured out how to use sugar, salt, and fat to make processed foods taste more than just good, but to make them something close to addictive. With this technology, they could make cheap, unnutritious foods taste good, and use the resulting high margins to fund advertising to drive demand. The food industry also made these foods more convenient than cooking. They even played a role in killing off home economics in the schools to ensure the next generation would not know how to cook.
Oh, one little side-effect that the industry needs to sweep under the rug: because these processed foods are so unlike foods found in nature, the body body can't properly gauge when these foods make the body full -- causing people to consume far more calories than they need.
Some interesting angles to the story are the involvement of the tobacco industry, such as Phillip Morris’s acquisition of food companies; and the healthy lifestyles pursued by the food industry executives, who eat their own products far more sparingly than the general public does.
This is not rocket science, but it’s great investigative journalism. It may be the best investigative journalism about the food industry since Upton Sinclair's work a century ago about food impurities. Yes, that good; that important.
One minor annoyance is that the narrator, Scott Brick, over dramatizes. Brick mostly narrates fiction, which he should probably stick to. He was perhaps chosen because he did an excellent narration of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (another great book for folks concerned about modern food), but that book was more of a memoir, making it a better fit with his narration style. Sugar, Salt, Fat is pure investigative journalism. The emotional level of Brick’s reading doesn’t fit with this genre.
48 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nate
- 2013-07-17
Food = Drugs
Equal parts Fast Food Nation, The Informant!, and The Omnivore's Dilemma. It does a great job of showing the closed door meetings, food industry rivalries, Wall Street, the government, as well as our own demands that have gotten us into the cluster we are in today. It was highly informative in not only mentioning the key players behind the food giants (like Cargill that provides the salt/sugar/fat and Monell that does the taste research), but also in the gradual developments and insider terms/tricks (stomach share, bliss point, checkoff money, line extension, single serving, vanishing caloric density) that have come together for the perfect storm of our obesity problem. Food = Drugs. I'm not going to lie... it made me want cookies, cheese, and chips pretty bad, though!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Grant
- 2013-05-29
Tasty, and nutritious.
I really liked this book. One of the most compelling and telling facts that I took away from it is that the people who create processed foods, in general, actively shy away from consuming them in their own diet. The history of processed foods is well told here. The moral of the story: try not to eat foods that require chemists, engineers and lawyers to produce. You'll be happier and live longer.
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joe
- 2013-11-14
The Kind of Writing I Wish For
Salt Sugar Fat is almost unthinkable. Not just in its content, in the unimaginable marketing strategies, innumerable addatives with powerful addicting properties, deceptive tactics, and blatant disregard for consumer health described in this book; not just in the sheer timeline and product scope of the reporting; not just in the reasoned approached the author takes to the shocking evidence uncovered; but also in Michael Moss's skill at investigative reporting and his ability to uncover the full strategies and willful ignorance that defines the mega food corporations.
Divided into three sections (Sugar, Fat, and then Salt) he takes us through the history of products that rely on these ingredients to hook, keep, and addict us. It is a stunning work of reporting in detail and scale. More impressive, is Moss's ability to remain dispassionate and intellectual as the book picks up steam. It is non-fiction, but I tore through this book with the same speed as I do a skillful thriller. This book is as addictive as the products it discusses. You will learn the unending reliance the food conglomerates have on sugar, salt, and fat and what this reliance has done to our collective health. Bringing all this wonderful writing to you is Scott Brick, possibly the best reader in the Audible catalogue.
This book makes my list of the best books I've read this year. It'll make yours too.
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Don M
- 2013-03-09
I thought I knew this stuff.
Moss interviews food scientists and corporate leaders to detail exactly how our American diet has been manipulated by the processed food creators. Human response to food additives has been so well studied and understood that I became convinced we are all being duped. Without full knowledge of how each product is made, we are defenseless against the subtle emotional and physiological responses that the food companies use to sell their products.
I am not a fan of Scott Brick's narration. The diction is perfect, but his tone of bleak resignation and condescension detracts from a great listen. He is easy to follow but I think the book sounds more even-handed than his tone implies.
30 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Margaret
- 2013-02-27
Shocking Must Read!
The point that is made over and over - that the obesity epidemic was scientifically engineered to get the exact results it has produced, i.e. sell a lot of processed food with no concern for health - is devastating to whatever crumb of credibility the food industry has left. The research that Michael Moss presents I found to be comprehensive and convincing. I hope parents take the time to listen to this and think of how to change the behaviors that "convenience" foods have instilled in the tastes of our kids. It is worth the time and the credit. Otherwise, we are out gunned in the fight.
On a purely personal note, I find the narration slightly overly conspiratorial and breathless. But I got used to it after awhile.
54 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark C
- 2013-03-10
Excellent but narrator over the top
What made the experience of listening to Salt Sugar Fat the most enjoyable?
Facinating
Would you be willing to try another one of Scott Brick’s performances?
One of the best narrators forgets that over dramatizing makes the book hard to listen to. Let the words speak for themselves.
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 2014-12-19
Not a feelgood book
‘Salt, Sugar, Fat' is a depressing expose of the processed food industry. It’s a fairly detailed analysis of how the industry has crammed more and more of these three ingredients into food, and the resulting havoc wrought on the health of Americans. Dramatically increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and stroke have arisen as the population has become increasingly dependent on fast, cheap, convenient, tasty food and drink containing frightening amounts of these eponymous ingredients, as well as a whole load of other chemicals to flavour, colour and preserve the food and increase its shelf-life. The same problem has now been inflicted on other, poorer, nations, such as Mexico as the corporate giants have colonised other markets in their relentless pursuit of greater profits.
Over time, some sections of the public have become more aware of the health hazards associated with these foods, but it hasn’t really reduced the scale of the problem. Attempts to introduce government regulation in the US have largely been scuppered by the lobbyists representing the powerful food and agriculture industries. There has been some effort on the part of the food corporations to reduce the quantities of salt, sugar and fat in their products, but these reductions have been fairly minor, token cuts and haven’t reduced the scale of the problem. Many people have cravings for these powerfully tempting products and can’t cut back effectively, and often don’t have the time, awareness or motivation to make radical changes to their lifestyles. Advertising and marketing campaigns are cleverly designed to make processed food seem irresistible, and of course advertisers are more likely to emphasize health benefits than to warn of the dangers of eating these products.
The World has surely got itself into a sorry mess when people are encouraged to oversize their drink portions so that they are ingesting 44 teaspoons of sugar in their giant cup of fizzy soda, while people in other countries starve to death in droves. The companies defend themselves by saying that no one is being forced to consume their products. It’s a free market and they are only selling what people want. But surely, for the sake of the health of everyone, there should be a massive education campaign telling people how they are potentially harming themselves by eating fast food. There should be limits on the amounts of salt, sugar and fat that can be included in processed foods, as there are in other countries. Surely enough is enough?
12 people found this helpful