The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

[dixiegrrrrl]

A lengthy article on how some junk foods are intentionally created to be addictive to the brain.

The best part is actually halfway down the page, under these headings:
In This Article:
• ‘In This Field, I’m a Game Changer.’
• ‘Lunchtime Is All Yours’
• ‘It’s Called Vanishing Caloric Density.’
• ‘These People Need a Lot of Things, but They Don’t Need a Coke.’

But the largest weight-inducing food was the potato chip. The coating of salt, the fat content that rewards the brain with instant feelings of pleasure, the sugar that exists not as an additive but in the starch of the potato itself — all of this combines to make it the perfect addictive food.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

[CrispyQ]

1. What an interesting read.

The attitude of the General Mills CEO,

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The best parts are halfwaydown in the article

which is a shame, I am concerned that people will wade thru the first few paragraphs and give up.

I am saving the writer's name, he seems to be focused on food articles.

[CrispyQ]

3. Great article, but yeah, it's way too long for most Americans.

Also, there's this. Back when Fast Food Nation came out, a co-worker told me, "If it's going to make me feel guilty about what I eat, then I won't read it." I think that is true for many Americans. To a degree, that CEO was right when he said:

But most often, he said, people bought what they liked, and they liked what tasted good. “Don’t talk to me about nutrition,” he reportedly said, taking on the voice of the typical consumer. “Talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, don’t run around trying to sell stuff that doesn’t taste good.”

[pink-o]

4. I just read this yesterday...

creepiest part for me was this:

Frito-Lay had a fromidable research complex near Dallas, where nearly 500 chemists, psychologists and technicians conducted research that cost up to $30 million a year...

Their tools included a $40,000 device that simulated a ***chewing mouth*** to test and perfect the chips, discovering things like the perfect break point: people like a chip that snaps with about 4 lbs of pressure per square inch...



that just weirds me out! And it shows how cutthroat these processed food companies are in getting people addicted to their nutritionally void products. It really is like the Tobacco industry, profiting from poison.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Many moons ago, I worked for a market research company.

One of those survival jobs we all take.
So I had access to a LOT of food surveys, marketing etc.
Let me tell you, marketers take even the teeniest detail very very very seriously.

If Congress spent 1/10 of the focus on the budget or problems that marketers spend on Kool Whip......