A surprising finding about the "food-mood" connection has turned up in a recent (January, 2007) study.
The study focused on consumption of comfort foods, and we don't mean mother's home-made chicken soup. The researchers defined comfort food as "a quick indulgent snack that tastes good and gives...an immediate 'bump of euphoria'."
Two groups of subjects were watching two different movies, an upbeat comedy and a tear-jerker. Both groups were given popcorn and seedless grapes to snack on. Those watching the tear-jerker ate 36% more popcorn than those watching the comedy.
That isn't too surprising. We already knew that when we feel down we often try to eat our way back up. In the words of the study, "While each of us may look for a comfort food when we are either sad or happy, we are likely to eat more of it when we are sad."
What is surprising is that when both groups were given nutritional information before the movie, those watching the sad movie ate less popcorn than those watching the comedy, although everyone still popped the grapes.
As an explanation, the researchers concluded "that happy people are already avoiding consumption, and the presence of nutritional information does not drive their consumption any lower."
The implication is that if you are aware of feeling sad and feel the urge to munch, read the ingredients first, since nutritional information appears to influence how much people eat when they are in sad moods.
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