Study Reveals The Psychological Reasons For Comfort Eating

We deliberation that we eat comfortableness nutrient for pleasure, but subject shows boredom and nan request for a intelligence boost is what really sends america diving into nan snack drawer.

Study: Why Do We Eat Comfort Food? Exploring Expectations Regarding Comfort Food and Their Relationship pinch Comfort Eating Frequency. Image credit: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

Comfort nutrient is commonly consumed worldwide and is wide associated pinch various affectional and intelligence states. However, nan reasons for eating comfortableness nutrient are still unknown. A caller study successful Nutrients examined circumstantial expectations from comfortableness nutrient and whether these influenced their comfortableness eating behavior.

What is comfortableness food?

Comfort nutrient is nutrient that provides psychological comfort. It commonly includes snacks for illustration chips, crystal cream, cookies, candies, chocolate, and food-like items for illustration pizza. Comfort foods are often rich | successful calories and person a precocious sweetener and/or fat content, making them perchance harmful to health.  

Research connected nan affectional benefits of eating comfortableness foods remains inconclusive. It suggests that immoderate foods are much apt than others to heighten temper aft a antagonistic temper inducer, but that nan use whitethorn beryllium short-lived. Interestingly, group who judge comfortableness nutrient helps them whitethorn consciousness amended conscionable reasoning astir it, for instance, by looking astatine a drafting aliases penning astir their acquisition pinch comfortableness food. This suggests that anticipated outcomes play a important domiciled successful nan affectional benefits of comfortableness food.

Different group whitethorn expect comfortableness nutrient to enactment successful various ways. Such differences whitethorn besides beryllium betwixt nan sexes because they modulate their emotions differently. Women ponder complete problems and effort to get a due position to negociate their feelings, while men are much apt to blasted others and to hide their emotions.

Behavior is besides influenced by their expectations astir nan outcome, usually learned from anterior nonstop aliases indirect experiences.  People who eat for pleasance aliases reward thin to overeat during societal gatherings and celebrations. Conversely, those who eat to consciousness amended erstwhile they are depressed are much apt to binge-eat.

Expectations from comfortableness eating whitethorn beryllium based connected civilization aliases memories, often from puerility aliases important life events, aliases from experiencing a amended temper aft eating comfortableness food. Physiological underpinnings are not lacking, specified arsenic accrued levels of nan mood-elevating chemic serotonin aft eating chicken, which is rich | successful nan precursor amino acerb tryptophan. However, nan caller study did not trial these biologic mechanisms directly.

Comfort eating whitethorn besides trim activity wrong nan neural pathways progressive successful chronic accent release. People whitethorn eat comfortableness nutrient to trim their accent erstwhile faced pinch cognitive tasks, aliases to get other energy, arsenic seen successful students eating much earlier an examination.

However, these findings person not been tested successful comfortableness nutrient eating patterns. The existent study examined nan presumption that group move to comfortableness nutrient because they expect immoderate affectional aliases intelligence benefit.  

About nan study

The researchers conducted an online survey, which attracted 214 participants. They were asked to study their superior comfortableness nutrient and really often they ate it complete nan past 2 weeks and nan agelong term. The superior comfortableness foods astir often reported were chocolate, chips aliases crisps, and saccharine baked goods, but responses varied widely.

The investigators explored comfortableness nutrient feelings utilizing 5 subscales related to their expectations: Manage Negative Affect, Pleasurable and Rewarding, Enhances Cognitive Competence, Alleviates Boredom, and Positive Feelings.

Study findings

For astir participants, cocoa was nan superior comfortableness food, followed by chips aliases crisps and baked sweetmeats for illustration barroom aliases doughnuts. The superior comfortableness nutrient was typically nan astir often eaten, nan easiest to obtain, aliases nan 1 that provided comfortableness successful various situations aliases moods.

Participants astir commonly reported eating their superior comfortableness nutrient astatine slightest erstwhile successful nan past 2 weeks. They reported consuming arsenic galore arsenic 20 times, nan median being two. The astir communal reported wave for their superior comfortableness nutrient was erstwhile a month, pinch a mean standing of 5.8 connected a 0-9 scale, vs. respective times a week for each comfortableness foods. 

Most participants said they expected benefits from comfortableness food. Most thought eating comfortableness nutrient would beryllium “pleasurable and rewarding” aliases expected affirmative feelings. However, these expectations showed anemic aliases nary statistical associations pinch really often participants ate comfortableness food. In different words, these motivations did not really thrust comfortableness eating, though group believed they did. This suggests a imaginable disconnect betwixt participants’ beliefs astir comfortableness nutrient and nan existent psychological factors influencing their behavior.

The different 3 subscales (Alleviates Boredom, Enhances Cognitive Competence, and Manages Negative Affect) had comparable little ratings. However, group who ate comfortableness nutrient to alleviate boredom aliases to amended cognitive competence were apt to eat their superior comfortableness nutrient much often. In contrast, only those who ate comfortableness nutrient to alleviate boredom were apt to eat immoderate comfortableness nutrient much often.

Eating to relieve boredom and amended cognitive capacity independently correlated pinch a higher emblematic wave of eating nan superior comfortableness food. Conversely, only those who ate erstwhile saturated had a higher emblematic wave of eating each comfortableness foods.

Regression study confirmed that expectations for alleviating boredom showed nan astir accordant predictive narration pinch comfortableness eating frequency. Expectations astir enhancing cognitive competence aliases managing antagonistic emotions besides predicted immoderate wave aspects. By contrast, nan highest-rated expectation, eating for reward, was not associated pinch eating wave and was, successful 1 case, negatively related.

The existent study did not find sex-related differences successful comfortableness nutrient preferences. However, different studies suggested that women preferred snacks, particularly chocolate, vs meal-like foods (pizza, steak, aliases burgers) among men.  

Conclusions

The findings propose that group eat comfortableness nutrient because they expect immoderate benefits from it. These benefits span aggregate domains, including affirmative reinforcement (pleasure aliases reward) aliases having affirmative feelings.

However, nan existent wave of comfortableness eating was much powerfully related to expectations of managing antagonistic feelings, reducing boredom, and enhancing cognitive performance. These drivers whitethorn bespeak attempts to header pinch affectional aliases cognitive demands, alternatively than seeking pleasure.

“These findings whitethorn thief create interventions to reside unhealthy comfortableness eating behaviors.”

Future studies should analyse objectively reported comfortableness eating habits, possibly successful circumstantial situations, to thief foretell erstwhile comfortableness eating happens and what expectations style specified behavior. Since this was a correlational study, causal relationships could not beryllium established. A population-based sample would thief find nan wide wave of comfortableness eating, arsenic nan existent sample included only individuals who ate comfortableness nutrient astatine immoderate frequency.

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