Ever notice yourself mindlessly munching when you're stressed or anxious about something? New research suggests that the specific act of worrying—not just general stress—might be what's driving you to the snack cupboard. In a lab study, researchers had 129 undergraduate students complete a task designed to make them worry. They then measured how much chocolate, potato chips, and crackers the students ate. The result? The students in the worry group ate significantly more potato chips and more food overall than students in a calm control group. The effect was clear, but it was a modest one. The study was carefully designed to test cause and effect, and it provides direct evidence that inducing worry can lead to more eating. However, it's important to keep the context in mind. This happened in a lab with a specific group of young adults, mostly women. The researchers also checked whether things like a person's general tendency toward emotional eating or difficulty handling uncertainty made the effect stronger, and they didn't find that connection. This means that in this setup, the simple act of worrying was enough to increase eating for the group as a whole, regardless of those other personal traits. So, while the study points a finger at worry as a potential trigger, it's a first step in understanding a complex, everyday behavior.
Worry induction increases food consumption in undergraduate students in laboratory studyDoes worry make you eat more? A lab study found it can
AI-generated summary of the cited source, checked by automated accuracy review. How we work
Key Takeaway
Consider worry as a potential contributor to emotional eating in young adults, but evidence is from laboratory setting.
This preregistered experimental study examined the causal influence of worry on food consumption in 129 undergraduate students (67.4% cisgender women, mean age 19.87 years) in a laboratory setting. Participants were randomly assigned to either a worry induction condition or a control condition, with food consumption objectively measured using chocolate, potato chips, and crackers.
Results showed significantly more potato chip consumption in the worry condition compared to control (d = .32, p = .039). Total food consumption was also significantly higher in the worry condition (d = .33, p = .032). Absolute consumption amounts were not reported. No moderating effects were observed for intolerance of uncertainty, emotion dysregulation, or disinhibition. Neither broad-based nor worry-specific self-report measures of emotional eating predicted consumption amounts or moderated the condition effect.
Safety and tolerability data were not reported. Key limitations include the undergraduate student sample, laboratory setting, and lack of moderating effects for psychological characteristics. The study provides experimental evidence that worry can contribute to emotional eating behavior, suggesting targeting worry as a transdiagnostic mechanism may enhance interventions, though clinical relevance requires confirmation in broader populations.
What this means for you:
A lab experiment found that worrying led people to eat more snacks. More on Emotional Eating
Adults with ADHD show higher emotional eating and lower cognitive flexibility in case-control study
Adults with ADHD show more emotional eating and less mental flexibility in study
A case-control study of 76 adults with ADHD and 69 healthy controls found the ADHD group had significantly higher emotional eating scores (t…
Adults with ADHD eat more when stressed and struggle to shift their thinking compared to those without the condition, according to new findi…
Scuba-diving and mindfulness program reduces emotional eating in adults with obesity in small trial
Scuba diving and mindfulness program reduced emotional eating in small obesity study
A small, unblinded RCT of 63 adults with obesity found that adding a 2-month therapeutic scuba-diving and mindfulness program to standard ca…
A two-month scuba diving and mindfulness program significantly reduced emotional eating and stress in adults with obesity compared to standa…
CFT Improves Depression and Emotional Eating in Severe Obesity: RCT Results
Can Kindness to Yourself Help Tackle Obesity and Depression?
In a single-centre RCT with 91 participants, group-based Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) significantly improved self-compassion, mood, and …
A 10-session therapy teaching self-compassion helped people with severe obesity feel less shame, eat healthier, and improve their mood for m…
View Original Abstract ↓
Perseverative cognition (e.g., worry, rumination) is cross-sectionally associated with disordered eating behaviors and negative affect; yet little research has examined its causal role in emotional eating (EE). The current preregistered experimental study tested the influence of one type of perseverative cognition-worry-on objectively measured food consumption in the laboratory. A total of 129 undergraduate students (67.4 % cisgender women, Age = 19.87) were screened via a semi-structured diagnostic interview and randomly assigned to either a worry induction or control condition. Following the manipulation, participants completed a bogus taste test with chocolate, potato chips, and crackers. They also completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, intolerance of uncertainty, disinhibition, and EE. Manipulation checks confirmed that participants in the worry condition experienced significantly higher post-induction worry relative to controls. Primary analyses revealed that participants in the worry condition consumed significantly more potato chips (p = .039, d = .32) and total food (p = .032, d = .33) compared to the control condition. No moderating effects of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), emotion dysregulation (ER), or disinhibition were observed. Moreover, neither a broad-based self-report measure of EE (p = .555) nor a specific measure of worry-related EE (p = .855) predicted the amount of food consumed or moderated the effect of condition. Findings provide novel experimental evidence that worry, as a specific form of perseverative cognition, can contribute to EE behavior. Targeting worry as a transdiagnostic mechanism may enhance the effectiveness of interventions for EE.
PETRUSHKA decision-support tool reduced treatment discontinuation and improved symptoms in major depressive disorder
The Algorithm That Helps Doctors Pick the Right Antidepressant for You
Related in Psychiatry
Reducing social media use to 1 hour daily significantly reduces loneliness in youth
Limiting Social Media Use Reduces Loneliness in Youth with Anxiety
This randomized controlled trial of 219 youth with anxiety or depression found that limiting social media use to 1 hour per day for three we…
Youth with anxiety and depression felt less lonely after voluntarily limiting their social media use to one hour per day for three weeks.
GLP-1R exposure shows no causal link to most mental disorders except eating disorders
GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Show Mixed Links to Mental Health
This meta-analysis investigated the causal associations between GLP-1 receptor agonists and various mental health outcomes including anxiety…
New research explores how GLP-1 receptor agonists relate to conditions like anxiety and depression, finding no clear genetic link to most di…
Brief post-discharge interventions show reduced suicide outcomes in youth but lack specific autism-adapted data
Brief follow up programs may reduce suicide outcomes in youth
This systematic review of 24 studies examined brief post-discharge interventions for youth who have attempted suicide. While 8 studies showe…
New research looks at how quick safety planning and coping skills can help young people who have attempted suicide.
Open psychiatric wards improve depression scores and treatment adherence in hospitalized patients with depression
Open psychiatric wards may improve depression outcomes
This meta-analysis of 9 RCTs indicates that open psychiatric ward management leads to significantly lower SDS (MD -3.81) and HAMD (MD -0.99)…
A new analysis of 9 trials finds that open psychiatric wards may help reduce depression symptoms and boost treatment adherence in hospitaliz…
From Other Specialties
Meningeal Immune System Offers New Target for Glioblastoma Immunotherapy
New approach targets the immune system to treat brain tumors
This systematic review explores how targeting the meningeal immune system, including dural lymphatics and rBAMs, could overcome current barr…
A new strategy focuses on the area where brain tumors meet the body's defenses to improve how immunotherapy works for glioblastoma.
A 6 dimension and 42 item system provides early risk assessment for high-risk diabetic feet
Experts Develop New Risk Assessment System for Diabetic Feet
This expert consultation and guideline describes the development of an early risk assessment system for high-risk diabetic feet. The consens…
A new assessment system identifies risk factors like nerve damage and circulation to help manage and prevent complications in patients with …
Rapid advancements in imaging and blood-based biomarkers are transforming the diagnosis and management of ADRD
New guidelines help doctors tell delirium from dementia
This clinical guideline provides a narrative review on the evolving diagnostic and treatment landscape for Alzheimer's disease and related d…
Delirium is acute and fluctuating; dementia is chronic. New guidelines help doctors tell them apart.
ACTH and vigabatrin achieved full seizure control in a patient with Ververi-Brady syndrome
ACTH and Vigabatrin Show Promise for Rare Epilepsy Syndrome
This case report describes a 5-month-old male infant with Ververi-Brady syndrome and infantile epileptic spasms syndrome. The patient achiev…
A new gene variant linked to Ververi-Brady syndrome showed positive results when treated with a combination of ACTH and vigabatrin.