Science of Addictive Junk Food---Science of Addictive Junk Food,JUST HOW ADDICTIVE IS YOUR JUNK FOOD? In its latest big-idea, 8,000-word cover story, The New York Times Magazine tackles the addictiveness of junk food, and the attempts by the junk-food industry to get you and your families hooked on the fatty, starchy, sugary, salty, unquestionably delicious crap we know, love, and consume by the truckload. Michael Moss writes:
What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive. I talked to more than 300 people in or formerly employed by the processed-food industry, from scientists to marketers to C.E.O.'s. Some were willing whistle-blowers, while others spoke reluctantly when presented with some of the thousands of pages of secret memos that I obtained from inside the food industry’s operations......esquire
A few ways companies are hooking you:
With math. In the wake of its Red Fusion failure, Dr Pepper hired a food optimization expert with a PhD in experimental psychology and a mathematical model used to pair ingredients like "Color 23," "Syrup 11," and "Packaging 6" in order to craft the most addictive product. Howard Moskowitz is basically the Nate Silver of packaged food.
With something called a "bliss point." For Dr Pepper, Moskowitz tried to reach a something called the "bliss point," the sweet spot between repeatable drink- or eat-ability and flavor (overpowering flavor can only be consumed so much before you get tired). In order to find it, his "formulas were then subjected to 3,904 tastings organized in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia." The data was then collated in a meticulous, 135-page report. The end result: Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.
By preying on your kids' brains. Lunchables had a breakthrough when they realized, as CEO Bob Eckert is quoted, "Lunchables aren't about lunch. It's about kids being able to put together what they want to eat, anytime, anywhere." Once they shifted the focus to kids instead of wearied mothers, Lunchables sales took off and have yet to stop.
With technology. Frito-Lay spent up to $30 million a year on research, including "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 four pounds of pressure per square inch."
And without morals. A decade ago, former Coca-Cola COO for North and South America Jeffrey Dunn would make frequent trips to Brazil to try to push Coca-Cola on poor people in the favelas, attempting to "drive more ounces into more bodies more often." And Nestlé did the same with processed foods.
That's just the surface, and the takeaway from this piece seems to be that there's little hope and fewer scruples in the junk-food industry. We might as well throw up our hands and submit.
What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive. I talked to more than 300 people in or formerly employed by the processed-food industry, from scientists to marketers to C.E.O.'s. Some were willing whistle-blowers, while others spoke reluctantly when presented with some of the thousands of pages of secret memos that I obtained from inside the food industry’s operations......esquire
A few ways companies are hooking you:
With math. In the wake of its Red Fusion failure, Dr Pepper hired a food optimization expert with a PhD in experimental psychology and a mathematical model used to pair ingredients like "Color 23," "Syrup 11," and "Packaging 6" in order to craft the most addictive product. Howard Moskowitz is basically the Nate Silver of packaged food.
With something called a "bliss point." For Dr Pepper, Moskowitz tried to reach a something called the "bliss point," the sweet spot between repeatable drink- or eat-ability and flavor (overpowering flavor can only be consumed so much before you get tired). In order to find it, his "formulas were then subjected to 3,904 tastings organized in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia." The data was then collated in a meticulous, 135-page report. The end result: Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.
By preying on your kids' brains. Lunchables had a breakthrough when they realized, as CEO Bob Eckert is quoted, "Lunchables aren't about lunch. It's about kids being able to put together what they want to eat, anytime, anywhere." Once they shifted the focus to kids instead of wearied mothers, Lunchables sales took off and have yet to stop.
With technology. Frito-Lay spent up to $30 million a year on research, including "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 four pounds of pressure per square inch."
And without morals. A decade ago, former Coca-Cola COO for North and South America Jeffrey Dunn would make frequent trips to Brazil to try to push Coca-Cola on poor people in the favelas, attempting to "drive more ounces into more bodies more often." And Nestlé did the same with processed foods.
That's just the surface, and the takeaway from this piece seems to be that there's little hope and fewer scruples in the junk-food industry. We might as well throw up our hands and submit.
