Exploring a Comfort Food Preference Framework: Mood Self-Verification and the Intake of Comfort Foods
Wansink, Brian, and Collin Richards Payne. "Mood Self-Verification Relates to the Selection and Intake Frequency of Comfort Foods." The FASEB Journal 20 (2006): A174-A175.
23 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2014
Date Written: January 4, 2011
Abstract
Does a person’s mood relate to the types of food eaten? Based on clinical eating records and indepth interviews, a phone survey of 1014 North Americans was conducted to determine which foods were most consumed under various mood states (positive and negative). Results suggest that the food people eat for “comfort” may have unknowingly been selected to verify their mood. Positive moods were robustly associated with the consumption of more nutritive foods while negative moods were associated with the consumption of less nutritive foods. Weight loss strategies that generate negative moods for noncompliance may exacerbate weight problems by stimulating the overeating of less-nutritive comfort foods. Women and younger people seem particularly vulnerable to this process.
Keywords: comfort food, mood, obesity, self-verification, food intake, diet
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