Did That Brownie Do Its Job? Stress, Eating, and the Biobehavioral Effects of Comfort Food
Title
Did That Brownie Do Its Job? Stress, Eating, and the Biobehavioral Effects of Comfort Food
Author
Janet Tomiyama, A.
Finch, Laura E.
Cummings, Jenna R.
Research Area
The Individual and Society
Topic
Health and Illness
Abstract
Comfort eating is a widespread behavior, but does it actually work? The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the existing research on the potentially comforting effects of comfort food. We begin by summarizing the existing nonhuman animal research in this area, and then summarize the human research. On the basis of this foundational research, we provide a conceptual model of comfort eating that can be used as a hypothesis‐generating tool to guide future research. Finally, we highlight what we consider to be the most exciting future directions in comfort eating. These include (i) determining whether comfort eating is trait‐like or state‐like, (ii) understanding the antecedents and sequelae of comfort eating, (iii) elucidating the types of food implicated in comfort eating, (iv) creating linkages between comfort eating and comfort drinking, (v) incorporating measures of the autonomic nervous and immune systems in addition to the current focus on the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical axis, (vi) studying both short‐term and long‐term effects, and (vii) testing the biological and psychological mechanisms of comfort eating. Given that comfort eating has been practiced for centuries, we conclude that the time is ripe to advance the science of comfort eating.