Sad snacks – Negative emotions make children eat junk food

Emotions play an important role in children’s food choices and habits, especially during weekends. This was revealed by researchers from the University of Southern California in the United States. To reach this conclusion, they carried out a study published in the journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

195 volunteers

In order to carry it out, the scientists recruited 195 children aged around 9 years. Participants used a mobile app and were contacted seven times a day to answer questions. During these calls, they were asked if they felt stressed, angry or sad and if they had made so-called “unhealthy” food choices, i.e. consuming either fried foods or sweets. or either sugary drinks during the previous two hours.

Of all the products, the consumption of sugary foods was reported most often. The children reported eating sweets or pastries at least once a day for 40% of the days. French fries or crisps were consumed at least once a day for almost 30% of the days, and sugary drinks were ingested at least once a day for 25% of the days.

A poor diet

The authors also identified several negative emotions over the course of a day. In the work, the children reported stable and low negative moods for 90% of the days, but the rest of the time their moods varied throughout the day. “We found that fried food consumption was higher on days when mood was more variable than on days with low and consistent negative mood,” said Christine Hotaru Naya, author of the research, in a press release.

According to the researcher, “children are more likely to consume unhealthy foods on weekends, when meals and snacks are less structured and supervised than on school days.”