"Satisfries": Lower-fat fries actually healthier for you?

(CBS News) Burger King is launching what it calls "Satisfries" -- a version of fries that comes with 30 percent less fat and 20 percent fewer calories than the fast food giant's regular fries.

The new product is a good strategy for the company as competition heats up for healthier fast food options, according to Michael Moss, author of "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us."

Moss said on "CBS This Morning": "It a smart move in the sense (for the company) that they're practicing the fine art of line extension, coming out with a slightly different variation of their main line product. Good for their bottom line maybe -- questionable whether what it's going to do for our waistlines."

Moss, an investigative reporter for the New York Times, noted the fries may not be good for customers. He pointed to what nutritionists say -- that it may give people permission to overindulge.

"It sort of may give people permission to overeat," he said. "That's one of the problems with diet sodas, right? You drink a diet soda and you get this sense that it acts as maybe a prophylactic against calories so you have an extra-large muffin. That's one of the issues. The other problem is fat is so powerful as an ingredient. ... It's not a taste. It's a sensation -- that warm, gooey toasted cheese sandwich sensation goes right to the pleasure center of the brain, tells you to eat more. So the question is, can people resist? The issue is controlling these foods rather than letting them control you."