SALT, SUGAR, FAT: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, by Michael Moss. Random House, 2013, 480 pp., $28 (hardcover)
New York Times journalist Michael Moss spent 3½ years working out how big food companies get away with churning out products that undermine the health of those who eat them. He interviewed hundreds of current and former food industry insiders — chemists, nutrition scientists, behavioral biologists, food technologists, marketing executives, package designers, chief executives and lobbyists.
What he uncovered is chilling: a hardworking industry composed of well-paid, smart, personable professionals, all focused on keeping us hooked on ever more ingenious junk foods; an industry that thinks of us not as customers, or even consumers, but as potential "heavy users."