Study: Eating comfort foods doesn't actually make you feel better

Study: Eating comfort foods doesn&#039;t actually make you feel better

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last updated 8 January 2015

Bad news, Ben and Jerry's lovers: Eating "comfort food" while sobbing on the couch may not actually make you feel better.

According to a new study from psychologists at the University of Minnesota, the idea that eating certain food will lighten one's mood may actually be a myth. Regardless of what you eat (or don't eat), the study says, you'll feel a bit better after some time has passed.

In the study, participants were told to select their favorite "comfort food" along with food they liked but believed wouldn't improve their mood. They then watched a depressing video and were either served a comfort food, a food they liked, a granola bar, or nothing at all. Surprisingly, researchers discovered that after all participants had a few minutes to recover from the upsetting video, their moods improved — regardless of whether they ate the comfort food, the food they liked, or nothing at all.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.

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