Happiness Apparently Makes You Eat Candy

From A Basket Case.

The Times of India reports that happy people tend to eat candy, while "hopeful" people eat fruit and vegetables. This comes from a series of studies by Karen Page Winterich of Pennsylvania State University and Kelly L. Haws of Texas A&M University. They got their results by having participants either thinking about the past, present, or future, then seeing whether they picked candy or fruit.

In the first study, hopeful participants ate less M&Ms than those thinking of present happiness. In the second, participants thinking of the past ate even more unhealthy snacks. In the third study, participants thought of positive emotions in the past and the future. The "future" people chose healthier food.

The study authors conclude, "So the next time you're feeling well, don't focus too much on all the good things in the past. Instead, keep that positive glow and focus on your future, especially all the good things you imagine to come. Your waistline will thank you!"

Overall, this sounds like a rather unconventional series of studies with a lot going on. The article doesn't go into much detail, but it sounds like different snacks were used in each study (M&Ms in one, unspecified candy bars in another, etc.), which could make the conclusions suspicious because of all the variables. I also hope the authors kept strict definitions of "hope," "pride," and "happiness," as these are somewhat airy concepts that participants could have defined however they wanted.

Study Shows Correlation Between Diet and Mental Disorders in Women

Mmm, depression! From Science Daily.

Today the Sydney Morning Herald reports on a new Australian study that shows eating certain foods increase the likelihood of developing depression and anxiety disorders. Lead by Deakin University research fellow Dr. Felice Jacka, the study examined around 1,000 Australian women from all stratas of society. Participants who followed the national dietary guidelines were less likely to have depression.

This correlation happened regardless of the women's socioeconomic status, education, frequency of exercise, whether they smoked or not, and even physical problems like obesity. Dr. Jacka also says, "And conversely, women who mostly ate junk and processed foods were more likely to have depression and exhibit increased psychological symptoms." The study ultimately aims to help prevent depression before it starts.

So this pretty much confirms what a lot of you probably expected anyway. Unfortunately, the news story doesn't go into much detail about how this study was carried out (by listing control groups and the like), so not much else can be inferred from it. For more on how food affects mood, remember to click on my food tag, and especially this list of good foods to eat if you want to be happy.

Casual Friday: Foods That Make You Happier

You are what you eat! Don't you want to look
like this? Portrait by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
From Wikipedia.

Today I thought it would be nice to highlight diet tips that can improve your mood, using this article by Elsa Jones from Herald.ie and this article by Mary Bourgeois from Top Wire XS as guidance. As most of you probably know, food can have a big effect on levels of your serotonin, also known as the "happiness hormone" (even though it's a neurotransmitter, not a hormone). But what kind of diet is best? Let's find out!

1. Eat folate-rich foods. A study by the University of York and the Hull York Medical School showed that low folate levels can lead to depression, so eat foods like peas, bananas, oranges, broccoli, and others like them.
2. Eat protein with every meal. Protein-rich food keeps blood sugar balanced and contains tryptophan, which is necessary for serotonin production. Some good foods in this category are turkey, cottage cheese, and bananas.
3. Eat B vitamins, especially B6. B vitamins help with serotonin production, but B6 also helps in the metabolism of red blood cells. B-vitamin foods include oats, leafy green vegetables, and eggs.
4. Eat omega-3 foods, like fish. A study by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry showed that eating fish capsules three times a day improved bipolar and depression patients' moods after eight weeks. This makes sense because omega-3 helps create dopamine (another neurotransmitter related to happiness) and slows the breakdown of serotonin.
5. Eat vitamin D. Most of us don't get enough vitamin D from sunlight, especially in the winter, which can cause problems because this vitamin is a mood booster. Some good vitamin-D foods are oily fish, leafy green vegetables, and eggs.

So there you have it. Give some of these tips a try. You'll probably be glad you did!

Comfort Food, Sex Found to Change Brain Chemicals for at Least Seven Days

Google Image results for "comfort food and sex"
were not encouraging, so this is what you get.
From I Just Love Food.

Today in the somewhat obvious news department:  WTOP reports that researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that both sex and comfort food reduce stress. The study may seem like a waste of time, but the researchers also discovered the neural pathways by which the stress reduction occurs, and that the reduction lasts for a longer period than previously expected. These findings may eventually aid people with sex addiction (if you believe in that sort of thing) or extreme obesity.

You can read the study itself here at PNAS. The researchers found that sucrose triggers most of the stress dampening in the brain. Here's a quote for the technically inclined:

"Moreover, sucrose intake increases mRNA and protein expression in the BLA for numerous genes linked with functional and/or structural plasticity. Lastly, stress dampening by sucrose is persistent, which is consistent with long-term changes in neural activity after synaptic remodeling."

Mm mmm! nothing gets me hot, bothered, and hungry like protein expression in the BLA!

Pizza Makes People Happy!?

Pizza. Pizza? ...PIZZA! From Marler Blog.

Yay, pizza! That's what the totally-unbiased Pizza News reports today. Apparently a new survey of 2,000 people in Britain found that pizza (along with chocolate) is the food that makes them happiest. The survey also found that £40,000 a year is the ideal wage for happiness, but we don't care about that. We just care about PIZZA!!!

Hmm. On the other hand, I wish the article gave more detail, like the names of the researchers and exactly how much pizza is the ideal amount (you need to be scientific about pizza-eating). I'd also be interested to know if pizza helps longterm happiness, or if it just creates a momentary glad feeling before an emotional crash and tummy-ache. The health risks also probably affect longterm happiness.

So in conclusion, more research is needed on the subject. Who wants to help me? *NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!*

(On an unrelated side-note, after typing it over and over again, the word "pizza" now looks completely strange to me. Two Zs in the middle of the word!? How is it possible!?)