When we feel sad or depressed, for example, after a break with our partner, we usually turn to chocolate or, in general, sweets and sweets to help us feel better. Well now, a recent investigation from the University of Minnesota (USA) affirms that the homemade antidote for our emotional afflictions does not work at all, since it does not improve our mood .
For their study, the experts induced a bad mood in 100 university students by making them continuously watch videos of dramatic movies, very sad. Then, they offered half of the participants their favorite food or foods considered “comfort” and, to the other half, foods that had nothing to do with these supposedly comfort foods.
After everyone had finished eating, the researchers asked the students how they were feeling. They all felt much better, regardless of what they had eaten . “That is not what we expected. We keep repeating the study, because we don’t believe it, ”says Traci Mann, study leader.
They conducted a second experiment. This time, after the tear gas session, half of the volunteers were able to eat whatever they wanted and the other half could not eat anything. After being asked what their mood was at that time, both groups reported feeling better, so the comfort food, again, had no effect on mood .
In the conclusions of the study, which has been published in the journal Health Psychology , Mann explains that “I suppose this removes a very practical justification that people have for eating ‘comfort’ foods .
“The idea that we can feel better just by eating certain foods is very attractive, but in reality, feeling better has nothing to do with the food itself , and it is a very weak psychological effect,” says David Levitsky, co-author of the study. .
