Salt Sugar Fat: Sugar

Michael's Moss's "Salt Sugar Fat" was this weeks focus - specifically the section entitled Sugar. Beginning with our bodies desire for sugar and sweet, Moss explores approximately how much harm our consumption of large amounts of sugar-loaded food does to us. He also narrates a lot of the history of food scientists and company's battle over the health risks of sugar. Moss mentions how kids are the demographic of people that love sugar the most. When discussing the marketing of these sugary products, Moss specifically notes how companies would target their advertising to children because they would be enticed by the product and beg their mothers to get it for them. Because "hunger is a poor driver of cravings," food processing companies can attract consumers on the premise that their products just taste good and feel good and they should eat them - not because they are hungry, but because they are tasty (39). (Which is terrible and wrong, but true).

As I was reading, one thing I kept noticing was the language used to describe the competition between companies. The tone and vocabulary used was one of a military battle or war - things like cereal unit, marching orders, combat, offense, top-secret, war room, enemy's position, target, etc. But later to find out, this was not a war against companies; this was a war against the consumer - the consumer who purchases the opposing company's products.

The fact that sugar is such a large problem was not what disgusted me about reading this section of "Salt Sugar Fat." What is frustrating is the marketing and things companies would do just to sell more, without concern for consumers' health. From things like targeted our young, to exchanging a "product component for another that wasn't ... as high on the list of [medical] concerns," to tapping into people's emotions, specifically happiness, to get them to associate an event with consuming their product. The food industry's methods of marketing are so annoying, because I see these things, but know that so many people do not care, and even more do not even know!

My final thoughts on "Sugar" ...

Jeffrey Dunn, a previous Coca-Cola employee, had an idea for a healthy snack food. He described it as a product with personality; it was "bold, irreverent, confident, clever," and playful - the "ultimate snack food" (119). He talks about how it is ideal for busy mothers needing to feed their children, busy college students (like myself), and others whom this 'ultimate' snack could benefit. At this point, I'm thinking "Man! What could it be?!" As it turns out, the entire time Dunn is marketing for baby carrots?! I did not expect this. He goes to explain... "We act like a snack, not a vegetable. ... We exploit the rules of junk food to fuel the baby carrot conversation. We are pro-junk food behavior but anti-junk food establishment." (120). What he's saying is we could market healthy food just like junk food. Which in my opinion is a great idea. His description and wording of baby carrots definitely did not sound like he was trying to convince me to eat baby carrots, but it would have worked.

So, the fact that (in theory) the marketing of healthy alternatives could be equally as effective as the marketing of sugar-dense substances leads me to wonder, why then must our species (and many more) have such a strong desire for sugar? Why can we not rid ourselves of these unhealthy food?