Fighting the Bliss Point Formula

Chuck Norris
Thu, 12 Dec 2024 21:00:00 -0800
Lifestyle

Back in 2013, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss released a book that was destined to become a bestseller. Some would proclaim it to be one of the best books of the year. In the provocatively titled "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," Moss enlightens readers with some troubling and shocking facts about America's eating habits. "Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar," the book's back cover reads. "Every day, we ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt, double the recommended amount, almost none of which comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food, an industry that hauls in $1 trillion in annual sales." Moss "takes us into labs where scientists calculate the 'bliss point' of sugary beverages (and) unearths marketing techniques taken straight from tobacco company playbooks." That was 11 years ago. Funny how we don't hear the term "bliss point" nearly enough nowadays when talking about the manipulation of America's eating habits.

As reported by Key4health, "the concept of the bliss point" in food consumption was formally introduced in the 1950s by researcher and psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz during the "early days of processed food development." Moskowitz was conducting studies for the food industry to determine just the right combination of salt, sugar and fat in food to trigger our brain's reward system and lead to an intense sensation of pleasure, disrupting the body's natural mechanism in the process.

"One of the earliest examples of bliss point manipulation can be traced back to the late 19th century, when sugar was first introduced to breakfast cereals," Key4health reports. "Sugar's ability to mask the bitterness of grains and enhance sweetness made it an instant success, leading to the widespread adoption of sugary cereals. The 1950s saw a surge in the popularity of pre-packaged snacks. ... These products employed a combination of salt, fat, and flavor enhancers to create a highly addictive flavour profile, setting the stage for the widespread application of bliss point technology. ... As processed food consumption increases, so does the sophistication of bliss point manipulation."
Updated: Fri Dec 13, 2024

Back in 2013, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss released a book that was destined to become a bestseller. Some would proclaim it to be one of the best books of the year. In the provocatively titled "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," Moss enlightens readers with some troubling and shocking facts about America's eating habits. "Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar," the book's back cover reads. "Every day, we ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt, double the recommended amount, almost none of which comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food, an industry that hauls in $1 trillion in annual sales." Moss "takes us into labs where scientists calculate the 'bliss point' of sugary beverages (and) unearths marketing techniques taken straight from tobacco company playbooks." That was 11 years ago. Funny how we don't hear the term "bliss point" nearly enough nowadays when talking about the manipulation of America's eating habits.

As reported by Key4health, "the concept of the bliss point" in food consumption was formally introduced in the 1950s by researcher and psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz during the "early days of processed food development." Moskowitz was conducting studies for the food industry to determine just the right combination of salt, sugar and fat in food to trigger our brain's reward system and lead to an intense sensation of pleasure, disrupting the body's natural mechanism in the process.

"One of the earliest examples of bliss point manipulation can be traced back to the late 19th century, when sugar was first introduced to breakfast cereals," Key4health reports. "Sugar's ability to mask the bitterness of grains and enhance sweetness made it an instant success, leading to the widespread adoption of sugary cereals. The 1950s saw a surge in the popularity of pre-packaged snacks. ... These products employed a combination of salt, fat, and flavor enhancers to create a highly addictive flavour profile, setting the stage for the widespread application of bliss point technology. ... As processed food consumption increases, so does the sophistication of bliss point manipulation."

And what of the results of all these scientific breakthroughs? As Key4health reports, "the excessive and prolonged consumption of bliss point-optimized foods, often referred to as ultra-processed foods (UPFs), can lead to a cascade of detrimental health effects that extend far beyond weight gain and immediate safety. The high levels of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats in these foods contribute to a range of chronic diseases. ... Critics argue that food manufacturers have a responsibility to prioritise consumer health over profit, and that the use of bliss point technology crosses a line into unethical marketing practices.

"As processed food consumption increases, so does the sophistication of bliss point manipulation."

Reports CNN's Sandee LaMotte, "obesity is a worldwide epidemic." The World Health Organization "estimates more than half the world will be overweight or obese by 2035. In the United States alone, it's estimated nearly 260 million Americans will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless policy makers take immediate action."

Which leads us to another shocking reality: The U.S. has no policy on ultraprocessed foods.

The good news is that, "for the first time in history, the potential role of ultraprocessed foods in the US obesity epidemic is being investigated as part of the new 2025-2030 US Dietary Guidelines, slated to be published by the end of 2025," LaMotte reports.

Marion Nestle is a molecular biologist and nutrition scientist and the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, Emerita at New York University. As she explains to CNN, the bad news is that, as reported by LaMotte, "advisory committees are instructed to make recommendations using only the strictest science."

"Nutrition science is largely uncontrolled and indefinite," Nestle says. "Without methods for studying diet and health that do not now exist, recommendations can never be science-based enough to satisfy critics."

It is why I believe that when you hear arguments against regulating ultraprocessed foods, maybe think back to watching a sporting event on TV and crunching away at the contents of a newly opened bag of chips until you realize you've downed that last one. Could that be bliss point science tricking your brain into overconsumption?

As pointed out in Tomas Weber's recent New York Times report on what he refers to as the "junk food industry," "when they discovered that noisier chips induced people to eat more of them, snack engineers turned up the crunch. Food technologists found a way to amplify the intensity of artificial sweeteners to hundreds of times beyond sugar's natural flavor. The structure of salt crystals can be altered to accelerate the speed at which they absorb into chemical pathways that signal saltiness, allowing the brain to perceive the flavor more intensely." As Dan Wesson, the director of the Florida Chemical Senses Institute says, "in the chemosensory world, almost anything is possible."

"Ultraprocessed products, the consumption of which has increased over the last 25 years, are often highly refined and rich in starch and sugar — we digest them, quickly, in the stomach and small intestine before they get to the colon, which is home to the gut microbiome," adds Weber. "As emerging research shows, when we eat unprocessed or minimally processed foods, our gut bacteria consume as much as 22 percent of the energy. With ultraprocessed products, our bodies soak up all 100 percent of the calories."

Concludes Marty Kendall in an Optimising Nutrition report, "Understanding the bliss point in food is crucial in today's environment, where hyper-palatable foods are readily available and heavily marketed. By recognising how the bliss point leads to overconsumption and food addiction, you can make informed choices to prioritize your health."