Comfort food a reward for men, guilty trap for women

Friday, November 18th 2005, 8:36 am

By: News On 6

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Comfort food for women often means snuggling up with tub of mint chocolate ice cream to wallow in their blues. For men, it serves as a reward when life is looking rosy.

Just what triggers people to turn to comfort foods _ and which ones they pick _ often depends on whether you are asking a man or a woman, a new study shows.

It turns out that women are a bit more likely to choose foods high in fat and sugar, such as cake and ice cream _ along with a hefty serving of guilt, loneliness and depression.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely to turn to hearty foods like steak and pasta as a reward when they are feeling upbeat.

That's significant because those who associated comfort foods with positive emotions were more likely to pick healthier fare, the study recently published in the journal Physiology & Behavior found. The study was drawn from an online survey of 277 people, more than two-thirds of them women.

``Comfort foods don't have to be high in fat and sugar. Comfort foods can be healthy,'' said Jordan LeBel, a Cornell University professor and lead author of the study. ``This shows we can re-educate people so that comfort foods aren't always about negative emotions.''

Foods high in sugar and fat are more efficient in alleviating negative feelings, according to the study. That finding is supported by past research.

But the study also found that those who named comfort foods low in calories _ like soups, fruits and vegetables _ were more prone to associate them with positive emotions.

``Not everyone uses comfort foods to alleviate stress,'' LeBel said.

For example, women were 50 percent more likely than men to admit feeling guilty about indulging in comfort foods. At the same time, 40 percent of the women picked high-calorie sweet foods, while 35 percent of men did.

The steaks, pastas and pizza that men generally gravitate toward are not necessarily optimal choices, but are better than the sugary fat-traps chosen by women, LeBel said.