According to a study done by a research team at the University of Michigan, pizza is the most addictive food ever. They polled students at the university to ask them which foods they think they would most likely get addicted to. Surprising nobody, pizza beat out just about every other food out there.
Of course, there’s a few things to consider with this study. First of all, they polled university students, and if we’re being honest with ourselves, we all know that when we were (are?) students, we were all about that pizza life. Not to say that we aren’t now, but… anyway. The study’s also self-selecting–it asked people what they thought was addictive. So it’s based on personal tastes and stuff like that.
More importantly, there is a significant difference between pizza “addiction” and drug/alcohol/other forms of addiction. The study specifies that they were looking for “which foods, out of 35 foods varying in nutritional composition, were most associated with addictive-like eating behaviors.”
In fact, this study sets out to explore that difference to find out if there’s a similarity or bridge between food addiction and substance-use disorders. From the study:
“Food addiction” is characterized by symptoms such as loss of control over consumption, continued use despite negative consequences, and an inability to cut down despite the desire to do so. Addictive-like eating has been associated with increased impulsivity and emotional reactivity, which are similarly implicated in substance-use disorders. Thus, “food addiction” may share common behavioral attributes with other addictive disorders.
Ultimately, though, as Uproxx’s Dan Seitz points out, it’s “a lot easier to stop eating pizza than it is to stop doing heroin.” Trying to equate the two things might not work out too well.
Anyway, now back to your regularly scheduled Tumblr pizza GIFs.
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