Rao, Pingfan

Rodriguez, Raymond L

Shoemaker, Sharon P

English

eScholarship - University of California

UC DavisUC Davis Previously Published WorksTitleAddressing the sugar, salt, and fat issue the science of food wayPermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/4zf7225cJournalnpj Science of Food, 2(1)ISSN2396-8370AuthorsRao, PingfanRodriguez, Raymond LShoemaker, Sharon PPublication Date2018DOI10.1038/s41538-018-0020-x Peer reviewedeScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaEDITORIAL OPENAddressing the sugar, salt, and fat issue the science of food waynpj Science of Food  (2018) 2:12 ; doi:10.1038/s41538-018-0020-xHumans have had a long and beneficial relationship with salt,sugar, and fat that dates back to the origin of the species. Salt isessential for fluid balance, sugar provides the energy for physicaland mental activity while fats of various types make up most ofthe mass of the brain. Over time, however, we discovered theseemingly magical properties of these three ingredients totransform smelly, stale, and near tasteless foods into sweet,savory, and delightfully flavorful nutrition. As a result of theirability to “flavorize” a vast array of foods, this trio of ingredientsbecame a culinary treasure and used around the world to createthose wonderful foods we have come to associate with importanthistorical events, indispensable elements in religious rituals, feasts,festivals as well as those sweet memories from our youth.By the mid 1900s, this trio of salt, sugar, fat took on a newpsychosensory dimension when the processed food industrydiscovered that these ingredients could be formulated to producea state of satiety, pleasure, and hedonia in those who consumedthem. American market researcher and psychophysicist, HowardMoskowitz, termed this the “bliss point” or the point where thelevels of saltiness, sweetness, and richness were perceived by theconsumer as just right. When the processed food industry added acrunchy mouth feel to their bliss point formulations, a whole newgeneration of “craveable” foods was created.1 A vast array ofcraveable chips, dry sweetened cereals, candies, cookies, friedfoods, and even spaghetti sauces became wildly popular amongconsumers, particularly children, and profits for processed foodcompanies soared.Of course, as interest and consumption of craveable foodssurged, interest and consumption of more traditional, homecooked cuisine that included fresh fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains began to wane. In terms of current sugar consumption,developed countries like the U.S. are consuming between 68 and77 kg per year compared to the 1.8–2.7 kg consumed annually inthe early 1700s.2 Interestingly, the introduction of sugar sub-stitutes and government recommendations to lower the intake ofsugar and salt have produced only slight reductions in recentyears. It has been speculated by some in the fields of nutrition andbiomedical research that these craveable foods can dysregulatethe brain’s food reward system by increasing dopamine produc-tion, thus making them addictive.1By 1999, the leaders of some of the largest processed-foodcompanies in the U.S. met privately to discuss disturbing data thatassociated the consumption of craveable foods with an upturn inthe rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.Equally disturbing was the finding that the rates of these diseaseswere higher in certain racial/ethnic populations suggesting stronggenetic components in how people perceive the foods they eat(i.e., taste and smell) as well as how these foods interact with theirphysiology and metabolism. These findings spawned the newfield of nutritional genomics that provided evidence for diet ×genome interactions and genetic variations called single nucleo-tide polymorphism (SNPs). Some of these SNPs explained whycertain individuals are “super tasters” for sugar while others preferumami flavors. Nutritional genomics also helped explain whysome people gain weight while other lose weight on the sameisocaloric diet.Today, craveable foods and soft drinks are sold and consumedworldwide and their negative impact on global health is beingnoticed in terms of increased rates of obesity and its comorbid-ities, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.3 In some instances,food shortage and nutritional deficiencies in the developing worldare being replaced with processed, bliss point-formulated, crave-able foods resulting in increasing rate of “skinny diabetes” (Type 2diabetes without obesity). As a consequence, the treasured trio ofsalt, sugar, and fat have become the subjects of much criticism bythe public and extensive oversight by government agencies. Forexample, 11 countries have national taxes on sugar while there arenine cities in the U.S. with sugar taxes.Is government regulation, taxation, and the demonization ofsalt, sugar, and fat the only way to curb the overconsumption anddependency on craveable foods? We, think not. We believe thatthe full force of food science and technology is yet to be appliedto this challenging problem. For example, by emphasizing the useof highly refined ingredients in our processed foods andbeverages, have we robbed them of their full and natural hedonicproperties? Could the use of raw sugars and sea salt, for instance,help achieve bliss points at lower concentrations of theseingredients? Is there a bliss point equivalent for mixtures of fruits,vegetable, whole grains, fresh or processed? Are some bliss point-formulated foods more detrimental for one subpopulations thananother? If so, can processed foods be re-formulated to achievesatiety and food reward based on racial/ethnic and socio-culturalfactors instead of taking a “one size fits all” approach. Lastly, canconsumers be sensorially trained to prefer lower bliss point foodswithout the loss of their hedonic properties?These are just some of the exciting challenges facing foodscience and technology today. Addressing salt, sugar, and fat issuethe “science of food” way is sure to produce the products andresponses that will deliver those benefits of health and longevitythat we all desire.DATA AVAILABILITYAll relevant data are available from the authors upon request.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSNo sources of funding were used in the preparation of this manuscript.ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONCompeting interests: The authors declare no competing interests.Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claimsin published maps and institutional affiliations.Received: 24 April 2018 Revised: 22 May 2018 Accepted: 23 May 2018These authors contributed equally: Raymond L. Rodriguez, Sharon P. Shoemaker.www.nature.com/npjscifoodPublished in partnership with Beijing Technology and Business UniversityPingfan Rao1, Raymond L. Rodriguez 2 andSharon P. Shoemaker31Food and Nutrition Sciences Centre, hejiang Gongshang University,310012 Hangzhou, China; 2Department of Molecular and CellularBiology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis,CA, USA and 3California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research,College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University ofCalifornia, Davis, CA, USACorrespondence: Pingfan Rao (pingfanrao@zjgsu.edu.cn)REFERENCES1. Onaolapo, A. Y. & Onaolapo, O. J. Food additives, food and the concept of ‘foodaddiction’: is stimulation of the brain reward circuit by food sufficient to triggeraddiction? Pathophysiology 14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pathophys.2018.04.002(2018).2. Johnson, R. J. et al. Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hyper-tension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and car-diovascular disease. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 86, 899–906 (2007).3. Traill, W. B., Mazzocchi, M., Shankar, B. & Hallam, D. Importance of governmentpolicies and other influences in transforming global diets. Nutr. Rev. 72, 591–604(2014).Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,adaptation, distribution and reproduction in anymedium or format, as long as you giveappropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the CreativeCommons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third partymaterial in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unlessindicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in thearticle’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutoryregulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directlyfrom the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.© The Author(s) 2018Editorial2npj Science of Food (2018)  12 Published in partnership with Beijing Technology and Business University1234567890():,;

Addressing the sugar, salt, and fat issue the science of food way

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Addressing the sugar, salt, and fat issue the science of food way.

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