The Science of Addictive Junk Food (2013) | Hacker News Reader

The Science of Addictive Junk Food (2013)

nytimes.com

77 pointskoopuluri26 comments

Reading this I look up to see a Domino's pizza truck, on the side is just a lush, deep red fresh tomato and the slogan: "Enjoy our fresh ingredients". The whole thing reeks of fresh, healthy food. Yet, The pizza feels fatty, makes you thirsty from the extreme salt content and the amount of sugar is crazy for something that is normally considered savory [0].

[0] http://www.nourishinteractive.com/system/assets/general/free...

The sugar content didn't look so bad to me, but I found the table in the upper left corner humorous:

    Recommended Pizza Serving Sizes:
    ------------------+-------------
                      |    Small
    ------------------+-------------
    Thin crust        |  1/4 pizza
    Hand Tossed       |  1/6 pizza
    Deep Dish         |     n/a
    Brooklyn          |     n/a

How can the "recommended serving size" (aka "portion size", right?) be not applicable? Are they telling me it's not fit for consumption? Pretty sure I'm not getting it, not a native speaker, etc.

Maybe they are selling that type of pizza only in regions where the recommendation is not mandatory? Just guessing.

They don't sell a small-size Deep Dish or Brooklyn.

If you have bbq sauce on a small pizza (who eats a small pizza?) you already have 22 grams, add some ingredients and you get another couple of grams making a woman pass her daily allowed intake for added sugar (25 grams [0]). That means you shouldn't have any desert or soft drinks with it. No cereal that day, no muffin, nothing.

Actually, a medium pizza crust + bbq sauce puts even a man over his limit of 30 grams per day. For a large pizza? Better not eat any bbq sauce at all.

[0] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-sugar-per-day

I always found those made up numbers funny. There are so many variables and so many different individuals, that slapping such EXACT number as "don`t eat more than 30gr of sugar per day" is so wrong.

It's about added sugar, you will consume more, even on a healthy diet. It's just that you don't strictly need it to function as a human. But, fine, slap a standard deviation of 10 grams on top of it. That doesn't really alter the conclusion.

By the way, if you just grind tomatoes and garlic, add some olive oil and oregano and boil for 15 min you have a very nice pizza sauce imho... no sugar added or needed.

Do I look like I can afford fresh ingredients

You don't exactly need fresh ingredients for that.

In most recipes, if the tomatoes are not in season you'll have better luck using canned tomatoes anyways.

Many traditional recipes actually call for canned tomatoes over fresh. The canning process seems to affect the flavor in a positive way.

Are you from the US? Here in the Netherlands fresh takes 25% of the supermarket area and is way cheaper. You can get even better deals on the market. It doesn't help you i guess but I think in most countries its more normal to cook at home with fresh ingredients than it is to eat out or to use processed stuff. Maybe there are such areas in the US as well.

Things such as tomatoes are available all year by the way and generally pretty cheap.

> By the way, if you just grind tomatoes and garlic, add some olive oil and oregano and boil for 15 min you have a very nice pizza sauce imho... no sugar added or needed.

I was clued in at some point that cooking pizza sauce is neither necessary nor desirable, and sure enough, IMO it is better if you skip the boil. Just mix it up and slap it on the pie. Saves a pan, too—you can just use a mixing bowl.

Not sure you need the olive oil, either, but if it's working for you keep it up. Sugar 100% not needed, you're right. I add a fair amount of salt (you can go hard on the salt in most homemade recipes and still have way less than commercial/fast-food options) and way more black pepper than you'd think would be a good idea, but which is actually great, turns out. I'd sooner skip the garlic than the pepper, actually.

To me the fact you'd eat a pizza with bbq sauce is already disturbing. It has to be one of the biggest sources of sugar in existing savoury sauces.

What's wrong with tomato sauce ?

Nothing imho, but still it's not good enough and they add sugar. Probably more and more because people get used to the sweetness of it.

Just have a look at the daily consumption recommendation of energy drinks, you can't even drink the whole can without going far over the daily limit. And I guess for n/a, you could go for "1/20 pizza" or less?

Who came up with the concept of "servings"? The only purpose I can see for this is to make large quantities look smaller. For example a lot of small bags of chips contain 2 or 3 servings although almost everybody eats the whole bag in one sitting.

Edit: I guess it was lobbying by the food industry.

I assume it was so that they could make things look less unhealthy. "There is HOW MUCH salt in this?" "Yeah, but that's for four servings, the per serving amount is a measly X".

n/a probably means "not available" in this case.

Previous discussion, from 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5279307

That's one of the more hotly debated comment threads I've seen on this site. Lots of "You are wrong" and "You don't understand". People take their food seriously!

I think this is one of the major problems with the food and nutrition industries. Most don't have a factual understanding of what they're talking about and are willing to spout off whatever they were told by this or that person. There's no real consensus. The situation honestly feels worse than global warming. Everyone just takes their own stances on it or the one that aligns with them and then doesn't bother actually looking into why they are right or wrong. It's worrying.

There are also just so many variables it's hard to keep track of what is right or wrong anymore.

Wow.. Surprised to see no mention of "fiber"! The whole problem with processed foods is stripping off of essential dietary fiber. When you take fiber off of food, it digests quick rising blood sugar levels and feeling hungry quick - reason why they are called junk foods.

So many scientists suggesting to fix fiber in the diet to address the issue and yet no single mention of it in the entire article! No wonder Americans are misled.

https://youtu.be/EtnTuTX4L24

Old article, should have a (2013) on it, BUT a great article, and in fact, this is adapted from an excellent book I can highly recommend called "Salt, Sugar, Fat"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00985E3UG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

whoops. I also missed a word in the title. Can't seem to edit once submitted.

Added, thanks.

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