DoctorOz: Healthier Supermarket Foods & What's Changing

Good news, you can celebrate. There are healthy changes coming to some of your favorite supermarket foods. So today, we're applauding the companies that heard you. I want to actually applaud them, it is hard. So what changes can you expect? Michael Moss is joining me, he's the best-selling author of Salt, Sugar, and Fat. Welcome back, Michael. Nice to see you, thank you. So let's go over this, Jeff. In the past five years only, just the past five years, these are the companies, Nestle, General Mills, Kraft, Campbell's, Kellogg's, and Unilever. They've all made healthy food their priority, and they're putting marketing campaigns behind it. So Michael, what is motivating them to make these changes? The business of the food industry is selling product, and they're starting to listen to consumer demand. I mean, you've stood up, you've spoken out, and it's starting to work. So we're gonna go through changes, we're gonna discuss about their impact as well. So through the ones you may know better, come on over here. These are products, again, that are very familiar to you. So for example, Kraft's macaroni and cheese. Sort of surprising to me, because they were one of the first to respond to consumer desires. One of the biggest concerns that consumers raised about the mac and the cheese were the yellow artificial dyes, the number five and the number six. So they're coming out, and Kraft is moving to what my grandmother taught my mother to use, which was turmeric and paprika, natural, not artificial, but natural colorings. Yeah, we can put spices in them, like in most countries. Exactly. But again, I'm gonna come back to you on this, I want you to think about it, because it's not gonna have that glow-in-the-dark yellow color anymore. Which, you know, I'm serious about this. I wanna make sure we actually want these changes, and you can actually go along with it. Next, Nestle. How are they changing their processed foods? Nestle was one of the first out the gate. Starting later this year, they're taking artificial flavored colorings out of much of their lines, including their chocolates, and replacing them with natural flavors, and reducing the sodium content of their foods by 10%. It's huge. Yeah, sodium especially is a big deal. Next company we talk about is Campbell's. Now, high fructose corn syrup. A lot of folks talking about high fructose corn syrup, and we're talking about sugar today as well. There's a fair amount of controversy about why we're using so much, but let me just throw, why would anybody even bother putting it in soup, and why is Campbell's taking it out? Sweetness sells. Everybody adds sweetness to their product, but high fructose corn syrup especially has become seen as this big evil, because the soda companies switch from table sugar to high fructose corn syrup, and they in turn have been associated with some of the biggest health ills. So, companies are taking it out. Right, and Campbell's is one of them. Yes. Let's keep going. Unilever, they said they're the maker of, I can't believe it's not butter, has removed all of the preservatives, all of them, right, in favor of real simple ingredients like a blend of plant-based oils and purified water. They've been a trusted sponsorship partner of the show, but if we can make these kinds of products healthy, we can make a lot of things healthy. And General Mills, that's the brand known for many of its bright colors in its cereals. You guys have all had them. They say they're gonna completely phase out artificial colors and flavors by 2017. That's all the good news. The question is, are we gonna cooperate with what's being done? So, audience, how many of you grew up with these foods? And please, let me be honest about this. Almost everybody, thankfully. So, let's have a conversation. There's an emotional component to these foods. I mentioned the glow-in-the-yellow color of the crepe, mac and cheese, but all these foods have these kinds of elements to them. How difficult will it be for you to be able to shift to the healthier versions if they don't look exactly the same as the ones you grew up with? Who's got the mic? You wanna go first? Go ahead. Stand up if you don't mind. I would be very happy to make the change over to healthier foods. I'm always looking for other options. So, for me, it would be easy. So, you wouldn't mind if there's subtle changes in color, texture, a little bit? No, if it was better for my health, I wouldn't mind. Who else had a hand? Go ahead, ma'am. Yes, I wouldn't mind the change in color, but the process of, say, the mac and cheese, it's so quick and easy. Even, say, you have a young teen child, they can make themselves the mac and cheese. So, I think it's more than just the color. It's the sell of the ease and the time. Well, I'm being told that it's equally easy, but let me share a little story for you. This is a true story, something I experienced a few years ago. I was on a plane with a guy who worked for a large company. You've all heard of the company, and you know the product that he makes. And I was giving this guy a hard time. He was probably regretting he was on the plane with me. So, he said, I'm going after him over and over again about why there was so much salt in the food that he was selling. And after about a half an hour of me haranguing him, he finally turned to me, probably to make me be quiet, and he said, you know what, we took out half the salt. And I said, you did? He said, we absolutely took out half the salt. And I said, well, why didn't you tell anybody? He said, because if we told people that half the salt was out, they wouldn't buy it anymore. They would think it was a health food. So, this is a two-way street. I want us to be honest about this as well. It's gonna make a change in our lives for the better with regard to our health, but we have to be willing to step forward and say, if we're gonna tolerate a little difference in what we grew up with, because we know this is so much better for us. So, at least it doesn't have the risk of having problems. Because in fairness, some of these changes, we don't know if they'll make you healthier. But we do know that we make the food system a little easier to understand for a lot of consumers. Are you happy with the step these guys are taking? Yes. Good. All right, let me go back to Michael. Are we gonna see more changes like this from the big food manufacturers? Oh, I think they have to go further. I think they're going to go further. This is a huge moment we're in with people caring about what they put in their bodies. And the companies are responding. There are startup ventures out there who are reinventing processed food to make it affordable, convenient, tasty. And here's the thing, good for you. And these companies have to respond. The door's cracked open. All that's needed is to bust that thing wide open. All right, we're in that direction. We're gonna keep telling you about these changes all year long. We'll be right back.