Chocolates and Ice Creams May Not Help Kill the Blues: Study

Eating comfort foods like chocolates or ice creams may not really cheer you up, according to a study.

Psychologists from the University of Minnesota found foods that were earlier know to make us feel better and transition boredom and depression into a good mood is just a myth. They say that the mere passage of time makes us feel better irrespective of what we consume when we feel blue.

 For their study, participants were shown a 20-minute video having content that induced anger, fear and sadness. The subjects were asked to self-rate their moods and name the comfort foods they usually ate when felt low. The researcher gave them either comfort food like chocolates or ice creams, food they liked, or no food at all.

It was observed all subjects were affected by watching the video and recovered their normal state of mind irrespective of being served comfort food, food they generally liked or no food after three minutes.

"We were incredibility surprised by those results," Heather Scherschel Wagner, study author and researcher from the University of Minnesota told the Live Science.

"Whether it's your comfort food, or it's a granola bar, or if you eat nothing at all, you will eventually feel better. Basically, comfort food can't speed up that healing process."

The authors believe intake of food does not impact the state of the mind or emotion that one is in  and that the mood subsides after some time. The study advices people against over-indulging in unhealthy and fatty junks while in a bad mood.

"People can develop these very unhealthy habits, where they just immediately reach for these yummy foods when they feel sad. If people find that they do actually feel better without eating comfort foods, that might stop this unhealthy pattern of behavior," said Wagner.

Chocolates are cited as the widely eaten comfort food that releases endorphins of feel good hormones in the brain. But, regular intake of chocolates and ice creams can influence binge eating behavior and food addiction.

The results of the current study may not be relevant in real life stressful situation. The experts plan on investigating further to test the effects of eating comfort foods by people with social stress.

The research was presented at the 26^th annual convention of Association for Psychology Science in San Francisco, California.