One of the concerns people in the health industry have is the growing obesity problem because an overweight person as they age will tend to have more health related problems or be more expenses to the system. We all know the baby boom generation is getting older and there are plenty of baby boomers who are overweight. How did we arrive at this destination? At some point we will be told of the high levels of salt, sugar and fat in our diets. Well this did not happen overnight and although there is always individual responsibility and we all have some level of discretion of how we spend our after tax money, the food giants played a role. In the book Salt Sugar Fat – How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, published by Signal part o the Penguin Group, New York, 2013. The food giants include: Pillbury, Nestle, Kraft, General Mills, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Cargill, Tate &Lyle, ADM. In the book and in the marketplace all the above companies compete against each other to be the leader in their products.

There are two aspects to the book – one aspect is how each human reacts to salt, sugar and fat in ways the Food Giants are understanding more and more each year. The food giants employ science professionals to understand how the body reacts and then try to ensure their processed foods capture the greatest sensations from the salt, sugar and fat.  In every diet, people need some salt, sugar and fat, the issue is how much? Products that are not so healthy for you were designed for you to eat more than one serving. When you read the notes on the side of the packaging about how much value the food gives you- is it for one serving or the whole box? There was an old commercial which used the tag line “betcha you can not eat one”

For most processed foods without the salt, sugar and fat ingredients the food would taste bland. Add them in and the food will be devoured. For each, realms of data are gathered and analyze to find the bliss pint or the precise amount of sugar or fat or salt that will send consumers over the moon and be repeat buyers. Researchers know each of the ingredients salt, sugar and fat do good things for the body and add to our enjoyment of eating. The researchers study where does the mouth and tongue signal the brain? The research indicates depending on how much you eat, the ingredients send very positive signals to the brain to eat and enjoy. The issue you is if you consume too much over a reasonable period of time you will have high blood pressure and a host of other health related problems.

In the 1950’s at many schools were home economics teachers who taught the value of preparing food from scratch, budgeting and a variety of other subjects. As the years went by, the school system removed those teachers so few were taught the skills at school. Somehow it was linked those skills should be taught at home. Many people learnt the skills much later in life after much trial and error, perhaps the home economics teachers should come back?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in the giant food companies there are challenges for the consumer’s dollars on a weekly basis. What does the consumer spend at the grocery store and will they pick the brands at a margin that ensures the companies make profit. The use of fat, sugar and salt and through marketing dollars means the odds are stacked in favor of the company, but things change. With food giants, you will want to see how flexible in their decision making they are to the changes to the average consumer they are targeting. If decisions on new products take forever, it is time to look for alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions