Chicken soup may not only lower susceptibility to blood pressure, but also benefit high blood pressure patients. Well, it now appears as a comfort food for people who feel lonely. A recent study claims that chicken soup is good for heart and emotions.
In order to examine whether comfort food counteracts loneliness, scientists conducted a series of tests. In one such experiment, participants were made to feel lonely by making them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them. Other participants, on the other hand, were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Some people in each group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food while others wrote about eating a new food. Study subjects had to complete questions about their levels of loneliness as well.
“Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our connections with others. Comfort food can serve as a ready-made, easy resource for remedying a sense of loneliness. Keeping in mind this new research, it seems humans can find a number of ways to feel like we’re connected with others,” added Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study.
Writing about a fight with a close person possibly made people feel lonely. However, loneliness was fought by providing the participants a comfort food. It is known that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us. Thinking about or consuming such foods can probably serve as a reminder about those close to others. Most people writing essay on comfort food mentioned their experience of eating food with family and friends. Experts conducted another experiment wherein people were made to eat chicken soup and think more about relationships.
The study is published in the journal Psychological Science.