Quote:
Originally Posted by Cube Inmate
I believe people can get addicted to crappy food. It seems that it's most similar to other behavioural addictions, like gambling, sex, compulsive shopping, etc., as opposed to external chemical addictions like smoking, drinking. Because we see one as a "choice" and the other as a "chemical dependency," I think they're treated differently in terms of stigma. We look to treat "real" addicts whereas we simply look to shame these other people for their poor choices.
But I'm no expert, so I don't know about "food addiction." I just keep hearing that it's a real thing.
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On the addiction part, an interesting book is this one:
https://www.amazon.ca/Salt-Sugar-Fat.../dp/0771057105
Our brains are wired through evolution to want salt, sugar, fat. Food companies spend enormous effort to tune their products to maximize consumption. They make Doritos not to taste the best, they specifically tune them so the taste is low enough it doesn't trigger the brain into saying "I've had lots" so people keep eating them (as just one example).
So even without food addiction (which I also don't know much about) many foods we don't make ourselves are optimized to maximize consumption (because that maximizes profits). It's like advertising, an individual may or may not respond to an ad, but in aggregate you can measure people responding. A person may be more or less susceptible to the drive to eat more salty, sweet, fatty foods but in aggregate you can impact consumption by altering the composition of the food.
And you're right, the fact that one can't just quit eating and avoid situations that lead to behaviours like they can with gambling or smoking or alcoholism is a factor too.