Short Stuff: Bliss Point | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. Josh, Chuck, Jerry, not Dave, but Dave. still anyway. Short Stuff. That's right. Another banger of a job by you. Uh, thanks to your research with Science of. Food Journal, the marketing sage, optimizing nutrition across the margin, our old friends at. >> housetopuffworks.com, >> Mashed and uh, Penolon, the Penolon, whatever that is. >> That's right. Uh yeah, they were all. very good resources because this is kind.

of like a wide-ranging um topic. We're. talking about bliss, the bliss point, which is essentially what food. scientists have come up with to make you. eat and crave junk food ceaselessly. >> Yeah, you have a pretty startling stat. here out of the gate. Uh the average. American consumed, and this was a few. years ago in 2022, uh 126.4 4 gram of. sugar a day, which is 101 pounds or 46. kilos of sugar per American per year.

Some people say it's like up to 150, which is a ton of sugar. Uh in 1915, that number was about 17 12 pounds. And. processed foods were developed in that. time span, and that's literally to. blame. >> Yeah, for sure. Um and that's added. sugar. That's not like the sugar from. fruit. It's the sugar that you could. like put into a package and sell at the. store. That's the sugar that that. they're counting right there. >> Yeah. >> And there's a guy named Michael Moss. He. wrote a book that you probably have.

heard of called Salt, Sugar, and Fat. Came out, I don't know, within the last. decade or so, but he um talks about a a. market researcher named Howard. Moscowitz. And Moscowitz basically gave. us the food industry as we understand it. today. Um and I looked up and down to. see if he expressed any remorse at the. end of his life. and he doesn't seem to. have been anything but proud of his. work. But the reason he revolutionized. the food industry is that in the 70s he. identified the the idea of bliss points.

Like it was almost a discovery as more. than an invention. And that is the the. perfect balance between fat, sugar, and. salt in any given food product. It's not. the same for every food product. It's. specific to each individual Dorito or. Cheeto or whatever. Um, and if you if. you do it right, people are just going. to eat those things constantly and. they're not going to stop. They're going. to have trouble stopping. In fact, >> yeah, he was a what's known as a.

psychopysicist. And they are people who. look at the relationship between a a. stimulus and your brain's response to. it. >> And in this case, we're talking about. taste uh as far as the stimulus. And. then as far as our brain's response, it's like I want to eat all of that that. I can, >> right? And he was a eventually became. known as like a really pretty brilliant. market researcher who would pump out. these really detailed reports on. consumer uh on consumers consuming, >> right? Yeah. >> And some of these could be like over a.

hundred pages long, like really drill. down to like kind of uh weird levels of. specificity and granularity. >> Yeah. and he would um discover a bliss. point of something and I think he's. really well known for helping Prago the. the sauier uh come up with their chunky. variety and he introduced 32 different. mustards and 17 different olive oils and. a lot of other products to the market. >> Yeah. And again, by just doing this. exhaustive market research and.

interviews and focus groups and testing. to just figure out what people wanted. and then figure out how to make it so. that most the most people would buy it. because it had maximal palatability. >> Yeah. And we have bliss points for for. everything basically. Um they're. different for different macronutrients. Bliss points for junk food are just. heavily engineered to do that. But there. are natural bliss points like protein um. satisfies people pretty quickly. So I. think uh Marty Kendall says on the.

optimizing nutrition blog. I had a pretty funny mistake that we. peeped out that uh if a food has a. protein content of just 14% that's going. to make you feel satisfied and that's. why a lot of high protein diets are. recommended because you're just probably. not going to eat as much because you. come uh feel fuller and become satisfied. more quickly. >> Yeah. And also that's why you rarely. find protein and junk food. >> Yeah. Exactly. >> They don't want you to feel satisfied. They don't want you to feel satiated. They just want that bliss point such.

that your brain's just like, "Keep. going. Keep going." Um and the reason. why salt, fat, and sugar are focused on. is because those three combined. basically set off all of our taste buds, right? So it really like pumps out a. huge message to our brain saying like. this is amazing. let's just eat this. forever. And like you said, everything. kind of has a bliss point. Um, and also. most foods or a lot of foods have these. same three ingredients naturally. But.

again, these aren't the these foods like. aren't really engineered to to keep us. going to to maximize the bliss point. They just kind of have a natural version. in it. You know, like an apple tastes. good because it has its own bliss point, but it's not so highly engineered that. you don't just keep eating apple after. apple. >> Yeah, that'd be that would make you sick. in your belly. >> Yes, cuz they're high in fiber. They're. good for that. >> Yeah. Should we take a break? >> Yeah, we should.

[Music]. Well, now when you're on the road. driving in your truck, why not learn a. thing or two from Josh and Chuck? It's. stuff you should know. >> Stuff you should know. >> All right. [Music]. So, again, salt, fat, sugar, these these. three things, if you can get that down,

your food company will probably be. successful. um if you can figure out how. to just kind of put them together just. right. And they they serve other. purposes too, like um salt masks the. taste of other ingredients pretty well. >> Yeah. >> Um sugar is also a preservative. So the. shelf life of a product is extended from. it. But really taste is essentially what. you're trying to do with this. But it it. goes to show you just how um how not. precarious, what a just what a juggling.

act it is. >> Yeah. to come to the bliss point. So, it's maximally palatable, but also. there's enough sugar in there to keep. your, you know, stove top stuffing from. turning bad on the shelf if you don't. move them fast enough. >> Yeah. I mean, this is one of those. that's kind of disappointing to learn. how uh sort of they're not like, "Hey, let's make something that people really. like and that tastes awesome." They're. like, "Let's let's make something that. they will eat and eat and eat.". >> That's why I just became German. That's.

the problem with the 20th century. business mindset that's still around. today is. >> hook your hook your audience and you'll. have profits for your shareholders. constantly. >> Yeah. From Doritos to social media. >> Yeah. It sucks. >> Uh so we don't know, you know, you can't. get a recipe for Dorito, you know, like. an actual recipe, right? Uh but that. optimizing nutrition blog that you found. uh they took they looked at hundreds of. thousands of food logs and came up with.

some pretty good guesses on sort of a a. prime uh bliss point um ratio I guess. >> Yeah. >> Wherein sugar makes up or should make up. about 23.5% of the calories. Salt about. 2.9 gram per 2,000 calories and fat. about 24 uh 24% of the food's calories. And again this is not if like the. construction of a good diet. This is if. you're looking to maximize that bliss. point. >> Exactly. Yeah. It's not a good diet, >> right? >> Um, so there's other things that come. into play that food scientists have.

figured out along the way. Do you. remember the chewy granola bar. revolution of the early 90s? >> Yeah, sure. Those are good. >> Chewy mouth feel was basically. investigated and they figured out how to. maximize that. Um, and then also. crunchy, you know, you can't really. sneeze at that. But the biggest um the. biggest invention or the biggest. discovery. aside from bliss point as far as food. science goes is vanishing caloric. density which is really important for. junk food. >> Yeah, this is incredible. This is uh the.

idea that something that you put in your. mouth to eat that has that sort of melt. in your mouth quality, your brain. doesn't register that you are eating. calories. So that's when like popcorn is. one of them. That's why you can sit down. and eat a giant tub of popcorn at the. movies. >> because it kind of has that melt inyou. mouth feel and your brain's not saying. like maybe you should put this down. because you're eating a lot of calories. It doesn't signal your brain in that. way. And a little fact that I learned uh. from your research that hits home to my.

family was that they have found that. Cheetos uh Michael Moss said that that. is the perfect snack for as far as bliss. point goes as far as the crunchy mouth. feel, the flavor ratio, and most. importantly that vanishing caloric. density. And my friend, my wife Emily. has a Cheeto problem such that we don't. keep Cheetos in the house. She's like, I. can't stop eating them when they're in. the house. >> I know how she feels. Uh, I've got some. products like that, that I just I don't. keep in the house.

>> You can't. >> I do have to say though that it's gotten. easier and easier with just how. ridiculous the prices are for chips. these days. >> Yeah, chips are pricey. >> It's insane, Chuck. I like a bag of. Ruffles printed on the bag is $7.50. for half of a bag of of Ruffles potato. chips. Now, that is insane. The only. good part of it is hopefully more and. more people are like, "I'm not eating. chips anymore. This is dumb.".

>> Yeah. I mean, we don't eat a lot of that. stuff. We, you know, when we'll go to. the lake for the weekends with like kids. and stuff, we'll get like chips and dip. and that's always fun. Um, I do have a. French onion sun chip problem. >> Yeah. >> Oh, man. I love those so much. >> The mouth feel of those turn me off, actually. >> Oh, I love it. And but and they also uh. they're one of those sort of um evils. that make you think you're eating sort. of a healthy like a multigrain thing and. it's like I don't think those are any. healthier than a a fried potato chip. >> Right. Well, here take my hand and help. me off of my soap box because I have a.

follow-up question about Emily's Cheeto. problem. >> All right, let's hear it. >> Does she like the original Cheetos, the. straight ahead version, or is she more. like a fiery hot version kind of Cheeto. lover? No, she's a standard Cheeto and. to be specific, not a cheese puff. either. Uh like a real Cheeto, like a. Fred Flintstone Club Cheeto. >> Um but it's funny that she accidentally. got some of those Flamin' Hots and Ruby. was like, "I want to try those." And. we're like, "No, those are way too hot.

You can't eat those." And she was like, "No, I can handle it.". >> And she ate it. And it was one of those. things where you can see like her eyes. starting water and she was like, "These. are really good. I like these.". >> She played it off. >> Oh, yeah. She She's like, "I want to. take those to school." And then we later. found she was trading them. >> I'm sure. Yeah. She's like, "Here, try. one of these. You'll love it.". >> Exactly. >> Uh so, okay. So, just figuring out the. bliss point is not enough. You don't. just figure it out and release it. You. try a million different combinations. Maybe not a million, but not that far.

off. And you test it with people. That's. how you fine-tune everything and get it. just right so that you find that bliss. point that's going to help you sell as. much. And so those taste tests can like. really start to add up. There's some. legendary ones. As a matter of fact, one. of them is Prago Chunky. >> Yeah, we mentioned that earlier. Uh they. had 45 different versions of Prago. Chunky uh that they were testing until. they got to their main one. And then I'm. going to let you handle the Dr. Pepper. cuz that's just amazing. >> Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. Um they went.

through 61 different versions and 4,000. different taste tests. >> Wow. >> Before they finally released it. And. it's not bad. >> I've never tried it. I mean, I'm not a. Dr. Pepper guy. It's such a specific I. don't like hate it, but it's just not. one I go to. >> I'm not either, but that's Or wait, maybe it's the cream soda Dr. Pepper. that's not bad. I don't I don't really. drink it either, but I tried one once. and I was like, that's actually pretty. good. >> Yeah. >> What about Oreos, Chuck? Because one of.

the things they've become known for in. the last few years is releasing just. nutso flavors all the time. Yeah. And you know, this is probably the. Gen X and me coming out, but I I love a. um not I do love a standard Oreo, but to. me, they hit peak Oreo with the double. stuff standard. >> Oh, really? You don't like lemon? >> No. I I mean, I'm not I'm not into. lemony dessert desserts. >> Yeah, you probably wouldn't like lemon. Oreos then. I think they're very good. And I also think some of the limited.

editions they've come out with are. pretty good. like birthday cake, which. was the first one they did to. commemorate their hundth birthday back. in 2012. >> To me, the p it was very good. I think. it's still around. To me, the pinnacle. was Rice Krispie treats Oreos. They were. >> Oh my god. >> amazing. >> That sounds so good. >> They They were really, really good. If. they re re-released any, I would I would. definitely go get those. But I've very. fortunately been like, I should probably. stop buying like crazy flavored Oreos.

because I just eat the whole bag like in. one sitting basically. >> Oh man. Glass of cold whole milk. >> Yeah, Oreos go really well with that. But oh, the reason why that they've been. releasing so many flavors is that they. figured out when they release a crazy. flavor, it gets lots of press, so it. gets people to the stores, right? Um, and they found that when people are at. the stores to buy that crazy flavored. Oreo, they apparently remember how much. they love the original Oreos like you, so they buy both. >> Yeah,

>> that's great to an extent. I guess it's. great for Nabiscoco. >> Yeah, I bet that was a finding, too, where they were like, "Oh my god, look. what's Look what's happening.". >> Yeah, >> Chuck went to get a Lady Gaga Oreo and. he got the double stuff as well. >> I know. That's so weird. That was one of. the flavors. Um, and I guess before we. sign off, Chuck, I think we should. remind everybody, as we have many times, Oreo is the knockoff. Hydrox was the. original. That's right. Uh, everybody's. short stuff is out.

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