Believing that certain foods are addictive is associated with support for obesity-related public policies
Abstract
Introduction There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that certain foods may be addictive. Although evidence that nicotine is addictive generated support for anti-tobacco policies, little research has examined whether beliefs about the addictiveness of food are associated with support for policies to address overconsumption of nutritionally poor foods. Methods U.S. adults (n=999) recruited from an online marketplace in February 2015 completed a survey. Using logistic regression, we examined the relationship between beliefs about the addictiveness of certain foods and support for twelve obesity-related policies while controlling for demographics, health status, political affiliation and ideology, beliefs about obesity, and attitudes towards food companies. We examined whether the association between beliefs about addictiveness and support for policies was consistent across other products and behaviors viewed as addictive (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, drugs, compulsive behaviors). Results In multivariable models, there was a significant association (OR; 95% CI) between beliefs about addictiveness and support for policies for compulsive behaviors (1.48; 1.26-1.74), certain foods (1.32; 1.14-1.53), drugs (1.23; 1.05-1.45), and alcohol (1.21; 1.08-1.36) but not for tobacco (1.11; 0.90-1.37). For foods, the association between beliefs about addictiveness and obesity-related policy support was the strongest between such beliefs and support for labels warning that certain foods may…
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Identifying certain foods as addictive may encourage collective efforts to avoid them and is associated with support for policies to curb their use.
“Identifying certain foods to be addictive may encourage collective efforts to avoid them [231] and is associated with support for policies to curb their use [232] similar to how public health officials addressed Big Tobacco.”
From Food Addiction and Psychosocial Adversity: Biological Embedding, Contextual Factors, and Public Health Implications (2020) · cites this paper as [232]
Believing that certain food products can be addictive is associated with support for policies intended to curb their use.
“Furthermore, believing that certain food products can be addictive has been associated with support for policies intended to curb their use [29].”
From Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint (2020) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Moran, A., Musicus, A., Soo, J., Gearhardt, A. N., Gollust, S. E., & Roberto, C. A.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Moran, Alyssa
- ORCID
- Venue
- Preventive Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 90
- Pages
- 39-46
- ISSN
- 0091-7435 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2433611731
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 7.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Preventive Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (P30AG034546)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Keywords
- policy support, addictive behavior, compulsive behavior, food labeling, alcoholism, drug addiction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Female, Food, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Public Opinion, Public Policy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Behavior, Addictive
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