NYC Mayor Eric Adams says it's hard to tell the difference between a person 'hooked on cheese' and someone 'hooked on heroin'

• NYC Mayor Eric Adams floated a hypothetical scientific experiment on Monday.
• He said it'd be hard to differentiate between someone "hooked on heroin" and "hooked on cheese."
• A study from 2015 is often mistakenly cited by those who claim cheese is as addictive as narcotics.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams equated heroin addiction to being "hooked on cheese" in a Monday press conference.

Adams, a self-proclaimed vegan who claims to have cured his own diabetes and even reversed blindness he was experiencing in one eye by switching to a plant-based diet, was rolling out new initiatives to encourage New Yorkers "to have as many plant-based meals as possible."

While preparing a bowl of vegan chili in front of City Hall's press corps, Adams veered into a tangent about the addictiveness of certain foods, particularly cheese.

"Food is like a drug," Adams said. "And in fact, the studies show the same level of brain that encourages you to use drugs also addicts you to food.

"Food is addictive," the mayor continued. "You take someone on heroin, put them in one room, and someone hooked on cheese, put 'em in another room, and you take it away, I challenge you to tell me the person who's hooked on heroin and who's hooked on cheese."

Back in 2015, a University of Michigan study was mistakenly cited in a wave of articles claiming "Cheese Is as Addictive as Cocaine" or "Cheese Really Is Crack." Cheese ended up ranking around the middle of a list participants provided researchers when asked which foods were the most difficult to cut down on.

According to the CDC, "overdose deaths from opioids increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before." The federal agency does not track deaths from eating too much cheese.

Earlier on Monday, Adams talked about his own vegan diet and why New Yorkers shouldn't get down on themselves for straying off the best nutritional path.

"Does Eric eat fish?" Adams said, referring to the primary-eve stakeout of a Brooklyn brownstone apartment he listed as his primary residence despite the refrigerator containing what appeared to be salmon. "Does he eat a hamburger? Does he do this, does he do that?

"Does he do this, you know — I mean, it's just, listen, here's my message: The more plant-based meals you have, the healthier you are going to be. New Yorkers, don't beat yourself up. No one is perfect in this city."