10 Reasons Junk Food is Not as Addictive as Heroin

​A recent study on the addictive properties of junk food has been taken to an impressive and absurd conclusion, with one headline going as far as declaring, “Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin.” From reading through the study, you can quickly see that lines like “junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin,” and “just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food,” is clearly not making a determination that junk food is in any way as addictive as heroin.

Obviously, we at Daily Fork don’t consider ourselves scientists, but we do know a thing or two about crippling addiction. So, as a public service, we thought we’d point out a few of the ways loving junk food is not the same as being addicted to heroin. Here are 10 reasons junk food is not as addictive as hard core drugs.

1) You never hear stories about a kid stealing money to feed his quarter pounder addiction.

2) Only rendering a heartbreaking portrait of a character’s struggle with one of these two addictions will help you win an Oscar.

3) A junk food addict wouldn’t risk contracting HIV just to share a taste of their friend’s Frappuccino.

4) No one hits rock bottom eating Chewy Chips Ahoy alone in a dark alley.

5) Songs aren’t written about the dark and soulless journey of a nacho addiction.

6) Muggings and armed robberies are rarely the result of someone’s desperate need to score their next footlong meatball sub.

7) Jennifer Connelly wouldn’t go “ass to ass” for a bucket of fried chicken.

8) A Las Vegas binge on milk shakes and soda pop would never be enough to make you a literary renegade.

9) With self-control and exercise, junk food can still be part of a healthy lifestyle. Heroin, not so much.

10) No amount of chimichangas can make you look like this:

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