Are Cupcakes as Addictive as Cocaine?
According to Bloomberg reporters Robert Langreth and Duane Stanford, as
researchers publish more studies suggesting that processed foods and sugary
drinks have drug-like effects on the brain, “the science of addiction could
become a game changer for the $1 trillion food and beverage industries.”
In their November 2, 2011, article “Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine in
Growing Body of Scientific Research,” the authors contend that if these types
of foods and beverages “are proven to be addictive, food companies may
face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking
movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago.” While industry
executives and lobbyists apparently refute these claims, insisting that people
do not rob banks “to get the money to buy a candy bar or ice cream or pop,”
they are facing a growing body of studies suggesting that foods high in fat
and sugar affect brain reward circuits in ways similar to drug use.
The article quotes Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity
Director Kelly Brownell as saying, “This could change the legal landscape.
People knew for a long time cigarettes were killing people, but it was only
later they learned about nicotine and the intentional manipulation of it.”
Outlining the findings of a number of recent studies to support an addiction
thesis, the authors note that food and beverage companies have begun
offering healthier choices and insisting that voluntary measures are the best
way to address obesity. The article concludes, “The same tactic worked for
awhile, decades ago, for the tobacco industry, which deflected attention from
the health risks and addictive nature of cigarettes with ‘low tar and nicotine’
marketing.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog responded to the article with a
reference to a recent WSJ story about the growing impact of child obesity on
custody battles and asked, “What if those same parents had standing to sue
the companies that make the high-sugar, high-fat foods their children ate?”
Additional details about the child custody article appear in Issue 416 of this
Update. See WSJ Law Blog, November 3, 2011.
