Comfort Food May Be Good For Mental Health, Despite Its Fat Content

Comfort food may make your pants fit a little tighter, but a recent study suggests its effect on your mental health could be worth it.

The study, carried out at the University of Buffalo, didn’t actually involve eating comfort food, but still showed that it has a positive effect on your mental outlook in times of loneliness. Participants were asked to write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them. Half the participants then wrote about comfort food, while others wrote about something more emotionally neutral, before answering questions about levels of loneliness. Participants that wrote about comfort food were more likely to escape the loneliness, often because those foods were associated to the people close to them.

The relationship measured in the study is a bit more indirect, but does still point out that comfort food—whether you’re eating it or writing about it—can be good for your mental health, if not your waistline. Of course it’d be interesting to see studies look at the more direct effect of eating comfort foods, but as long as you don’t go overboard—as always, everything in moderation—it probably isn’t so bad to indulge occasionally. Hit the link to read more.

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes fight loneliness [UPI.com via Consumerist]