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  • Salt Sugar Fat

  • How the Food Giants Hooked Us
  • Written by: Michael Moss
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (64 ratings)

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Salt Sugar Fat cover art

Salt Sugar Fat

Written by: Michael Moss
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's Summary

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The AtlanticThe Huffington PostMen’s JournalMSN (U.K.)Kirkus ReviewsPublishers 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. 

©2013 Michael Moss (P)2013 Random House 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)

"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)

What listeners say about Salt Sugar Fat

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    3 out of 5 stars
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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.

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Excellent book!

This book is a must for anyone eager to learn about the “foods” that populate our grocery stores and their relation to obesity. Profusely researched, well written and well read! Loved it!

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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Dan
  • 2022-08-10

good. some info is erroneous

excellent performance by the reader.

The insight on Idustry tactics was new to me and quite informative.

But when Mr. Moss starts talking about how saturated fat causes heart disease, or how salt causes high blood pressure, I can't help but feel that he needs to read Nina Teicholz and Gary Taubes.

The theory that sat. fat is deleterious has been proven false many times since Keys first proposed it. Nurses Health Study, Women's Health Initiative, Framingham experiement, Mr. Fit, and many more that were designed to prove Keys right, demonstrated the opposite.

When Mr. Moss talks about beef, I get a sour "plant-based nutrition" agenda taste.

I saw his fritos fire video on YouTube, and find hard to believe that he still talks about calories being the cause of obesity. We now know that it is a hormonal disease, not an energy balance problem.

As for the actual insiders interviews, they truly were captivating.

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Must Read for Junk Food Junkies

Well researched and easily digestible. Michael Moss dives deep into the Food Giants and lays out a compelling read. He explains how we have been manipulated to buy processed food products. We learn how addictive foods like sugar, salt and fat are used in food recipes to heighten tastes and our body's additive pathways with little regard for our overall health. He also touches on the marketing and distribution practices. Food Giants rather than making healthy treats, countered medical research with very strategic campaigns to increase their market share and bottom line. They've targeted teens and busy unsuspecting parents. Well worth the read!!
And if listening the narrator does an excellent job !!

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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.

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    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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