If music can curb the love of food, play on

AFTER a tumultuous day, a bar of chocolate, pack of cookies or a tub of ice cream can offer respite, however controlling such emotionally-charged comfort eating can be tricky.

But research has found music can be a useful tool to limit gorging if powering through a stash of snacks.

When comfort eating because of sadness, scientists found that listening to Ed Sheeran worked best to restrict intake, whereas Lana Del Ray was better if the bingeing was down to stress.

Academics at the University of Lincoln and De Montfort University asked 360 women to list three songs they listened to regularly when sad or stressed.

One needed to fit into the “solace” category, which the individual found comforting and soothing; one was a “diversion” to distract the participant from their angst with positive music (Ariana Grande was a common choice for this); and the other was a “discharge” tune, that helped listeners blow off steam. Participants were told they were taking part in research into something unrelated, and the treats provided – cookies, chocolate, crisps, cheese savouries, jelly sweets or popcorn – were there purely for their enjoyment.

In fact, the researchers deliberately made them sad or stressed, played them various songs and then weighed how much of each snack was consumed.

In sad participants, the “discharge “category led to the least comfort eating. For those who were stressed, “solace” was most effective.