對不起，安慰食物真的幫不了你

For many of us， chicken soup can soothe the soul and mac and cheese can erase a bad day. We eat chocolate when we feel gloomy. And we eat chocolate ice cream to help us get over a bad breakup.

These comfort foods usually arent so good for our arteries， but we tend to think they have healing effects—that theyre the cure for all our emotional problems.

But maybe theyre not， says Traci Mann， a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota. In a recent study， Mann and some colleagues put 100 college students in a bad mood by making them watch clips from sad movies. They then fed half the students their favorite comfort food， while the other students ate food they enjoyed， but wouldnt consider comfort food.

Once the students had finished eating， the researchers asked the students how they felt. It turns out that all the students felt better， regardless of what they had eaten.

“That is not what we expected，” Mann says. “We kept repeating the study， because we didnt believe it.”

In another experiment， Mann had half the kids eat comfort food， and the other half eat nothing. After a few minutes， both groups felt equally better. The comfort food had no effect on their mood.

The results of these experiments appeared in Health Psychology. “People are taking this very hard，” Mann says. “I guess it removes a very handy justification people have for eating comfort food.”

Of course， the study has a few significant limitations. For one， it only looked at a particular kind of negative mood—caused by watching sad films. Other studies have come to different conclusions. For example， one in 2011， published in the journal Psychological Science， suggested that eating chicken soup may help some people feel less lonely.

And the researchers didnt look at the reallife situations in which people eat comfort foods. “Maybe the comfort from comfort food comes from going to a cafe acquiring it，” Mann says. The research on the psychological effects of comfort food is not very thorough， she notes， so we dont have any definite answers yet.

David Levitsky， a professor of nutrition at Cornell University， says Manns research is in line with what he would have expected. “We tend to look for a magic solution to our problems，” Levitsky says.

The idea that we can feel better by simply eating certain foods is very appealing， he says， “but in actuality， feeling better has nothing to do with the food itself， and its a very weak psychological effect.”

The comfort foods we turn to the most are the ones we ate while growing up， or the ones that remind us of celebrations， Levitsky says. We may associate chicken soup with all those times Mom took care of us when we were little， and maybe mashed potatoes remind us of joyful Thanksgivings.

Remember that scene from the movie Ratatouille， when an angry food critic tastes a meal that makes him feel like a kid again？

We think that eating foods that remind us of home， or of good times， will make us feel better when were down， Levitsky says. “But we dont know if its performing the function that people want it to.”

So does this mean we should step away from the Ben & Jerrys when were feeling sad？ Not necessarily， Levitsky says. “Theres no harm to it，” he says， unless youre overeating， or always eating food to avoid coping with big problems.

Mann agrees. “I am not opposed to comfort foodeating during your occasional glum moment，” she says.

Maybe the food doesnt help anything， she says， but that doesnt mean it isnt delicious. “So you lose one justification for eating a cookie. Come up with another one.”

對我們很多人來說，雞湯可以撫慰我們的心靈，奶酪通心粉可以趕走糟糕的一天。感到沮喪的時候我們會吃巧克力。我們會吃巧克力冰激凌來幫我們熬過痛苦的分手。

這些安慰食物通常對我們的動脈不太有益，但我們傾向于認為它們有治療效果——它們是所有情緒問題的靈丹妙藥。

但也許它們不是解藥——（美國）明尼蘇達大學心理學教授特拉奇·曼如是說。在最近的一項研究中，曼和同事讓100名大學生觀看悲傷電影的片段，令他們的情緒變糟。然后，他們讓一半學生吃他們最喜歡的安慰食物，其他學生則吃他們喜歡、但不被他們認為是安慰食物的食物。

學生們一吃完，研究人員就問他們有什么感覺。結果發(fā)現，無論吃的是什么，所有學生的感覺都變好。

“那不是我們預想的結果，”曼說。“我們不斷重復這個研究，因為我們不相信結果。”

在另一個實驗中，曼讓一半孩子吃安慰食物，另一半則什么也不吃。幾分鐘以后，兩組人的感覺都好多了——安慰食物對他們的心情沒有影響。

這些實驗結果刊登在《健康心理學》上。“人們很難接受這個結果，”曼說。“我想，這個結果剝奪了人們吃安慰食物的一個很管用的理由。”

當然，該調查存在一些明顯的限制。其中之一，就是它只觀察了由看悲傷電影引起的這一特定負面情緒。其他研究則得出了不一樣的結果。例如，2011年一份發(fā)表在《心理科學》的研究指出，喝雞湯可能令一些人感到沒那么孤獨。

另外，研究人員也沒有觀察現實生活中人們吃安慰食物的情形。……