Unhealthy processed foods make up a large proportion of the diet of both kids and adults in the U.S. In his entertaining book, Salt, Sugar, Fat--How the Food Giants Hooked Us, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Moss convincingly documents that manufacturers of processed foods are more concerned with maintaining and growing their $1 trillion in annual sales and substantial profits than they are with optimizing the health of Americans.¹

Extensively advertised processed foods from corporations stock the shelves of grocery stores and convenience outlets. Processed foods are "engineered" to be tasty, convenient, low cost, and have long shelf lives. But these desirable traits come with a cost to health. Typically, processed foods are packed with large amounts of added salt, sugar, and fat, ingredients that make foods less healthy but highly palatable and some would even say addictive. How many of us can stop after eating just a few crunchy salt and fat-laden potato chips?

Moss explains that food scientists have discovered that the "mouth feel" of a crunchy food, like potato chips, is something we enjoy. Adding salt, sugar, and fat to foods is even more important to enhancing their desirability and enjoyment. Research has shown that there is a "bliss point" for certain optimal levels of added sugar and salt. These are the levels that make food the most pleasurable. For fat, there does not seem to be a bliss point––food preference research suggests that the more fat in or added to a food, the greater our gustatory pleasure. 

A French study looking specifically at the health effects of eating processed food found that a 10% increase in the proportion of “ultraprocessed” food consumption was associated with a 14% higher risk of all-cause mortality over the 10-year duration of the study.²

Excessive salt, or more precisely sodium in a diet is associated with high blood pressure that in turn leads to heart disease and strokes. Too much dietary sugar leads to obesity and diabetes, both of which are associated with cardiovascular diseases and an increased risk of some cancers. High levels of saturated fats in a diet are also associated with heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases.

Avoiding foods that are packed with salt, sugar, and fat in childhood helps to prevent food preferences that endure for a lifetime and end up fueling chronic diseases including heart disease, obesity, and cancer.

This report presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. Catalyst for Children is not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader's own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms, or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise, or other assistance or advice, the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. Catalyst for Children specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage, or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in this report or participating in any programs described in this report.

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