Unhealthy foods sell well because they're enjoyable and addictive. "Health" foods with reduced sugar, fat, or sodium typically advertise as being low in one of these three ingredients only to be high in another one, and it's because they need to trigger a pleasure response in their consumers in order to stay marketable. MSG and refined sugars are, frankly, drugs.
The cocaine formula of Coca Cola was never a health food, but it's the closest baking of this idea I know about. The idea would be to add very small amounts of pleasure-inducing drugs to food so they can be consumed and enjoyed without the negative health effects of the other drugs which are commonly in food today.
I'm not sure what could be safely added and still allow the consumer to safely drive away from the fast food restaurant without risking traffic safety. (Nobody complains about driving under the influence of caffeine, for example.)-- kevinthenerd, Apr 08 2017 This is likely baked but, without access to a drug-testing lab*, I can't prove it. I'm fairly sure that 'something' is added to Tim Horton's swill, I mean, coffee. That is the only explanation for the unreasonable popularity** of its slightly-burned-tasting, Always Fresh™ dishwater.
*Camp Teacup's division of Muppetlike Labs suffered a glassware tragedy in the recent 'Surprise, it's still Winter!' storm.
**I crave the stuff. I make my own French-press Kicking Horse brew in the lab; coffee is supposed to taste good without cream and sugar. Clearly, I am addicted to something seeded into the 'coffee' in the Timmy's cup. My money's on minute amounts of MDMA. And how is MDMA 'healthier' as in the idea? I leave that as an exercise for the reader.-- Sgt Teacup, Apr 08 2017 Just use MSG.
There is as much evidence for/against MSG being in any way harmful as there is for/against vaccines causing autism.-- notexactly, Apr 09 2017 I wonder how many people understand that MSG is an amino acid?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 09 2017 So is thialysine.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 12 2017 random, halfbakery