Yale Study Focuses on Food Addiction Stigma

A recent study examining the public stigma around food addiction has concluded that the “food addict” label “was perceived similarly to obesity, but more favorably than other addictions.” Jenny DePierre, et al., “A New Stigmatized Identity? Comparisons of a ‘Food Addict’ Label with Other Stigmatized Health Conditions,” Basic and Applied Social Psychology, February 2013. To gauge public perceptions of food addiction, researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity first asked 659 adults about their responses to individuals “with various health conditions and addictions, including obesity, food addiction, physical disability, mental illness, cocaine addiction, and smoking.” A second survey of 570 adults asked them to view only one of three addictions—smoking, alcohol or food—“to specifically compare public perceptions of individuals described as being addicted to food to those with smoking and alcohol addictions.”

While the results of the first online survey allegedly showed that “a food
addict label added to the stigma of obesity,” the second survey failed to
support this finding, raising questions among the study’s authors about
whether gender or other health conditions mitigated participants’ responses
to the “food addict” label. In addition, both surveys reported that “food
addiction was rated more favorably when compared to other addictions…,
indicating that it may not be perceived as a ‘real’ addiction.” Those individuals
labeled as “food addicts,” for example, “generated more empathy, less disgust,
and less anger than those with alcohol and tobacco addictions,” and were
“blamed less for the addiction compared to those labeled with smoking and
alcohol addictions,” according to a February 5, 2013, Yale News article.

“[T]his research provides the first evidence of public perceptions about food
addiction, suggesting that it may be viewed favorably compared to other
addictions and that it may not add necessarily add to the stigma of obesity,”
concludes the study. “An important next step for research is to identify the
causal attributions of food addiction, which may have different implications
for stigma.”