How comfort eating stems from stress in childhood

Our tendency to comfort eat is determined by childhood factors such as stress rather than genes, a groundbreaking study has found.

researchers believe those who overeat at times of emotional upheaval develop this relationship with food early on in life.

Influences could include experiencing stress at the dinner table, or how parents implemented feeding practices. The same may be true for those who lose their appetite when they feel troubled, experts say.

The study, from university College London and published in the journal Pediatric Obesity, suggests genes are ‘largely unimportant’ when it comes to comfort eating.

Instead, environmental factors – such as home life – have the biggest influence.

Moritz Herle, who co-led the study, said: ‘Experiencing stress and negative emotions can have a different effect on appetite for different people. Some crave their favourite snack, whereas others lose their desire to eat altogether when feeling stressed or sad.

‘This study supports our previous findings suggesting that children’s emotional

‘Some crave their favourite snack’

over- and under-eating are mostly influenced by environmental factors .... and that genes are largely unimportant for emotional over-eating in childhood.

‘We will continue to research the home environmental factors that might play a role in emotional eating, such as certain parental feeding practices or stress around the dinner table.’

The study is based on an analysis of data on almost 400 British twins at the age of four. Study co-author Clare Llewellyn said the findings were unusual because many other food-related traits have been shown to have a genetic link – such as fussiness or how quickly we feel full. She said: ‘A tendency to want to eat more in response to negative emotions could be a risk factor for the development of obesity, and emotional over- and under-eating could be potentially important in the development of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bingeeating disorder.

‘understanding how these tendencies develop is crucial, because it helps researchers to give advice about how to prevent or change them, and where to focus future research.’