Cookie or clementine? Psychophysiological stress reactivity and recovery after eating healthy and unhealthy comfort foods

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:107

Article

Finch, Laura E.^1,2  Cummings, Jenna R.^1,3  Tomiyama, A. Janet¹ 

[1] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Psychol, 1285 Franz Hall,502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA

[2] Northwestern Univ, Dept Prevent Med, 680 N Lakeshore Dr,Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611 USA

[3] Univ Michigan, Dept Psychol, 1465 East Hall,530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

关键词: Stress;    Eating;    Comfort eating;    Cortisol;    Emotion;    Mood;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.04.022

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Many people eat unhealthy foods that are high in calories, fat, or sugar when feeling stressed, yet little is known about whether this unhealthy comfort eating actually comforts. Additionally, prior research has not tested whether healthy comfort eating of fruits and vegetables might also alleviate stress, or whether comfort eating during the stress anticipation phase versus immediately after a stressful event is more beneficial for stress relief. The present experiment tested whether unhealthy and healthy comfort eating reduce acute psychophysiological responses to a socially evaluative stressor. Participants (N = 150 healthy women) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test in the lab and were randomly assigned to one of five conditions according to a 2 (food type: unhealthy vs. healthy) x 2 (eating timing: during stress anticipation vs. after the stressor) + 1 (no food control) between-subjects design. Stress outcomes included mood, cognitive appraisals, rumination, salivary cortisol, heart rate variability, and pre-ejection period. Unhealthy and healthy comfort eating did not dampen reactivity or enhance recovery of psychophysiological stress compared to control, and no differences in reactivity or recovery were found by comfort food type. Findings suggest that by replacing unhealthy comfort foods with fruits and vegetables, women will not be sacrificing any stress-reducing benefits and can inherently improve the quality of their diet while avoiding potential drawbacks of unhealthy comfort eating (e.g., links with abdominal obesity).

【 授权许可】

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