Binging on junk food is regarded as something of a casual joke for a lot of people.
Jokingly tweeting about how you “can’t stop eating Mexican food” or about how “Pringles are so addictive” is supposed to be a laugh but, for some people, genuine food addiction and binge eating is an everyday reality that’s anything but funny.
Some believe food addiction should be recognized as a specific type of eating disorder or that it should be treated like compulsive drinking or gambling. It’s estimated thousands, or even millions, of people in the UK are addicted to eating junk food — in 2015, 58% of women and 68% of men were overweight or obese. While being overweight is not always caused by junk food, for a lot of people it’s a major contributor.
