Tearjerker films make us overeat, study finds
Cornell research discovers up to 55% more popcorn eaten during sad movies
Break out the hankies. And pass the popcorn.
Movies that get the waterworks going may also add inches to your hips, a new study says.
The study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab showed filmgoers watching tear-jerkers ate 28 to 55 per cent more popcorn, both in the lab and in a cinema.
The findings were published in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter.
“It’s emotion and it leads to eating,” said lead author Aner Tal by email. “We can’t be certain with the current findings if what we’re seeing is mood-repair or stress-induced eating, but those are the likely suspects.”
The researchers did some dumpster diving to analyze discarded mall movie popcorn in seven cities across the U.S., showing similar results over an American Thanksgiving weekend. They weighed trashed popcorn and counted the boxes, finding that moviegoers who bought popcorn and watched a sad movie, Solaris, ate an average of 55 per cent more popcorn (127 versus 82 grams) than those watching a more upbeat movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
“Distress in general tends to promote increased eating and, in this case, the food might specifically be used as a comfort,” Tal said.
A previous study documented how watching action films leads to increased food consumption compared to programming that’s more laid back, suggesting emotions are responsible rather than the level of distraction, he added. Another study found that watching a documentary led to increased eating compared to a comedy show, suggesting boredom was the factor.
“But an emotional-response explanation could reconcile our findings with theirs,” Tal said.
In general, the more distracted a person is, the more they eat. These studies show how much people eat is affected by the nature of the distraction, he said.
But don’t despair if sad movies are your favourite. Other studies show distraction also leads to increased food consumption of healthier snacks.
Kate Comeau, a spokesperson for Dietitians of Canada, suggests making conscious choices before the movie starts.
“Proximity, accessibility and visibility are all factors that have been shown to influence how much we eat,” she said by email. “Regardless of movie choice, the fact that popcorn is available, easy to obtain and highly visible means we are more likely to buy it and consume it.
“If you really want popcorn, buy a small-sized bag. This equates to roughly a meal’s worth of energy (500 calories),” she said.